


Miraculous Beat

by crazydoesit



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: F/M, Starrycove, Tumblr, breakdance au, finally writing something, starrycove has inspired me
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-04-03
Updated: 2017-08-09
Packaged: 2018-05-31 02:45:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 16
Words: 29,824
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6452347
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/crazydoesit/pseuds/crazydoesit
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Marinette has always found a sort of peace while she dances. The feeling she gets each time the music starts is energized and euphoric, but it falters a slight bit at the fault of her new dance colleague. Now, she can't seem to control the erratic, untempered, and inexperienced miraculous beating of her heart each time she dances beside him. She'll have to breathe through it, however, if she wants to rid her troupe of the shadow cast over them by the impertinent Akumas.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Where the Troupe Comes to Play

**Author's Note:**

> Yo! Hope this goes well!  
> Based off of starrycove 's Breakdance AU
> 
> I adore the fan art

Nino watched as Adrien cued him to start the music. Adrien started with a simple 6-step move before progressively getting into the harder moves until he finally reached the one he had been attempting for six months now. The airflares started off shaky, but as he continued through them, they got steadier. His friend applauded him when he finally stood up. “Congrats, dude!” Adrien felt a rush of pride at his accomplishment. He almost didn’t want to leave the abandoned studio he had set himself up in only so he could try the airflares again, but the sun was going down, meaning the gangs that tended to occupy the complex at night would be on their way.

As he was picking up to leave, his friend took him by the shoulder and whispered, “It’s time for me to introduce you to something. Follow me?” How could he not agree to such mystery?

They arrived in the dead of night to a small brick alley coated in graffiti like many of the others like it. “What’s so special about this place?” Adrien asked. Nino shrugged with his hands in his pockets and started to strut further down the road.

“Why did you want to learn how to breakdance?” Nino interrogated. Adrien was almost confused since he had told his friend this information before.

“Dancing is fun,” he stated matter-of-factly. “Besides, you know I’ve always admired those professional dancers on the Internet.” It felt childish saying it aloud. “Not to mention,” he decided to add, “I have to keep up with you.” His friend smirked at that, pulling a bubble wand out of his pocket and leaving a trail of the soapy spheres behind them.

“Then, you have it in for you.” Another statement that puzzled Adrien. He was about to ask what Nino meant when his friend suddenly took a sharp turn down an alley. It wasn’t too far from the one they had stopped at before, but this one looked different. It started off in stairs that led down to a rounded wooden door. Nino gestured for Adrien to follow him as he opened the door. Adrien was led into a greyish box of a room with a couple people sitting sadly in chairs along the wall and a thick man with a bunched up face standing in front of a metal door that was almost invisible as it was the same color as the rest of the room.

“Ah, welcome back, Bubbler,” the intimidating bouncer greeted. “Who’s this?”

Nino glanced back at Adrien as he went confidently for the door beside the bouncer. “This is a friend.” He winked at the bouncer and started to strip off his hoodie, revealing a red and yellow tank top. The bouncer took it and hung it on a row of hooks holding various jackets and blazers.

“Enjoy,” the bouncer told Adrien with a grin as he stood beside his friend. Now Adrien was a little creeped out. What was he supposed to enjoy?

“Welcome, my friend--” Nino’s voice boomed through the small room. The people in the chairs looked up miserably from their places to watch Nino open the door. “--to the best hangout in the city.” Nino’s face was lit up by multitudes of colors the moment the door was ajar. Adrien’s heart recognized the fierce dubstep pounding through the room beyond as he stepped over the threshold and into the much larger area.

“What is this place?” Adrien asked in astonishment. He was glad he hadn’t changed out of his clothes from practice because now he matched the rest of the crowd bunched up around a large white mat in the center of the floor and a bar along the wall the door was. He hadn’t realized his smile was so wide until Nino told him to play it cool.

“This is my club, dude! My troupe’s residence!” Nino exclaimed happily. Some people looked over to him and cheered. They wandered through the crowd and Adrien spotted small circles of space that had been given to dancers. They were all great, and Adrien itched to challenge one of them.

“What’s this troupe?” he asked Nino when they stopped at the bar.

“C’mon, man, my crew!” His friend waved to the bartender, a thin man with near-black skin and illuminated eyes. “Just like those gangs that take up the studio you practice in-- this is where my troupe comes to play.”

“I didn’t realize you were in a group,” Adrien admitted, feeling a little down with embarrassment. He had been so hypnotized in trying to learn breaking moves that it hadn’t occurred to him that Nino, who had introduced breakdancing to him in the first place, was actually practicing his art.

“Don’t feel down!” Nino encouraged. “Look, you weren’t good enough for it yet anyway.” The bartender placed a can of Coke in front of him. “Until you got the airflares down, I couldn’t have let you in if I tried.”

“He’s right, you know,” the bartender told him with a thick accent, leaning on his elbows. “And you aren’t even in it all the way yet. You see all these kids here?” He gestured behind Adrien. “They all want to be part of the crew, but it’s a lot more complicated than just being able to dance.” A women’s voice cut through the room. “The girls are about to perform.” The bartender stood up straight and sighed before continuing his work.

Nino grabbed his Coke and pat Adrien on the shoulder. “This way.” Once again, they made their way through the crowd and found a place around the white mat. Adrien was surprised to see people move out of the way for his friend when they got to the front of the viewers.

“By the way, why’d that guy before call you the Bubbler?” Adrien flushed as Nino laughed, suddenly embarrassed for a whole other reason than previous.

“That’s my name here!” Nino answered. “Like a code name.” He took out his bubble wand and started to let the bubbles fly. Some of the crowd members started to yell in excitement. “They started calling me that after my debut performance. Just wait till you see my signature Freeze!” Following the statement, the lights dimmed until the only light came from some newly lit candles on the bar’s counter and three spotlights focused towards the center of the white mat.

A soft beat started to grow out of the speakers, and when it reached the point where it burst into music, three bodies emerged under the spotlights at once, each inching closer to the center of the light as they performed the basic 6-step move. Adrien winced at how loud the cheering had become when the three girls were fully exposed in their corresponding spotlight. He also found it odd that the three of them wore painted masks across their faces.

The entertainers side-stepped into a side plank and posed for a split second. Adrien didn’t miss the devilish smile that struck the middle girl’s face. Immediately after, the two outer girls broke into windmills while the middle girl rippled her way up to standing straight and started dishing out jump-style breaking.

“They’re good aren’t they?” Nino asked into Adrien’s ear, laughing at the way his friend stared at the trio on the dance floor.

“Who are they?” he barely heard Adrien say.

“That one,” he pointed to the girl clad in purple, black, and white on their left, “is Lady Wifi. She’s _always_ online.” He pointed to the other outer girl with pink hair and a green outfit. “That’s Timebreaker. Sometimes her moves are so mesmerizing you could watch her for hours! And lastly,” they looked straight ahead at the middle girl sporting black pigtails and a red sports bra spotted with black, “is Ladybug. She has the sickest moves of us all. Word has it she could out-dance Papillion!” Adrien remembered learning about Papillion from Nino when he first started taking an interest in breakdancing. The now middle-aged man had been just about the best dancer until he retired about a decade before. “Ladybug’s fans like to think she could beat him if they were in action in the same time period.” The girls had moved on to synchronized backspins while Ladybug slid down to join them. Lady Wifi stood then. She did a sweet moonwalk and tipped her head, teasing the crowd as Timebreaker rose to join her. Together they did their own jump-style while Ladybug featured a halo.

Nino, who had applied a blue mask to his face during the performance, handed a very captivated Adrien his glasses and saluted him. He and a red-headed boy from across the floor flipped onto the mat as the spotlights dissipated into a single color-changing light that took up only the rectangular surface of the now red mat. The two new dancers stood still in their V-formation with the two outer girls following suit on cue with the music. The only one left dancing was Ladybug. The spotlight reformed only on her, and Adrien felt as if it were just the two of them in the entire room. Her moves started to shiver and alter into spinning moves until her torso was no longer on the floor. Airflares, Adrien realized. He could still see that smile of hers as her airflares changed.

No way, he thought, amazed. It had taken him months to get normal airflares down pact, and she had just spun out a row of one-handed ones with ease.

Ladybug visibly slowed and shoved her hands against the ground to jump into a stand. Then the mat lit up with colors again as she and the four other members began their climax to the show. It all ended with each performer in a pose. The red-headed boy stood straight with arms crossed and a showoff’s smirk on his face. Nino was upside down with his legs bent above him and the bubble wand at his mouth, bubbles floating up to be popped on the ceiling. Lady Wifi suddenly had a phone and was in the middle of what looked like taking a selfie with a very condescending look on her face. Timebreaker had one knee bent and the other straight behind her, looking like she was about to take off running. Lastly, Ladybug – the simplest of them all. She stood straight like the red-head with her hands on either hip. The devilish smile still splayed across her face.

The audience went ballistic, and the performers released their poses, Nino doing a flip to land on his feet. He ran up to meet Adrien and accepted his glasses. “That was awesome, Nino!” Adrien burst.

“I know right,” his friend stated casually. “I’m the best one here, aren’t I?” He let out a cry as a fist with a white band around the wrist punched his arm.

“Watch it, Bubbler,” Lady Wifi warned. She gestured to Ladybug and the other two dancers chatting with crowd members behind her. “Don’t let Ladybug hear you saying that or else you’ll be downright destroyed in a battle.” Nino shrugged playfully. Lady Wifi turned her attention to Adrien, sizing him up. “It’s been a while since you brought a recruit. Now, come on. We have our meeting to go to.” She waved to Adrien as she literally dragged Nino to join the others.

It took Adrien a moment to realize he was now alone in a pretty much foreign club.

He had wandered over to the bar to sit and watch as audience members resumed their own dancing. “Why don’t you wait for him out back,” the bartender offered, noticing Adrien’s obvious discomfort. “We’re going to close soon anyway, and they get out a different way.” Adrien nodded and stood from his seat. He turned to the man and was about to ask a question when the man held up his hand in interruption. “If you want in, you have to beat the contestant of the week.” He pointed to a chalkboard outlined by drinks on the wall behind him. “Every Friday there’s a chance for new members. The board tells you who you have to beat for the week you try.” On the board in red chalk with black décor was the scripted name Ladybug. Beneath that name was one in purple with a black and white design: Lady Wifi. “Come back next week, kid, and you might just have a chance.” Adrien uttered a thank you but was stopped before he could leave. “Don’t underestimate anyone ever. And for the record, the Bubbler isn’t allowed to help you prepare for your battle. Practice your moves and be ready to put them to the test to a song even she won’t know is coming.”

Adrien had been soaking up the words in an alley -- the first alley he and Nino had stopped at that night – for at least half an hour. He had pulled his black hood up in an act of coldness and waited patiently for his friend to exit the locked door at the end of the alley.

What an amazing night, he thought. They were all such amazing dancers. He understood that he was going to have to practice hard for the contest with Lady Wifi, but it would be worth it.

He wanted to be in this troupe.

Almost desperately. This was his shot. This was his chance to do what he wanted- to dance and in a legit group, which was a plus to the desire. He wanted to be able to dance alongside Nino and Lady Wifi and even Ladybug if he ever got the chance. He would be able to perfect his skills and obtain new abilities like the one-handed airflare. He wouldn’t have to go to the abandoned studio anymore with constant risk of being caught by the gangs that called it their territory because he would have this club.

A high-pitched sound caught his restless attention. From the shadows across from his sitting place came a frail black cat. “Hey,” he whispered, holding his hand out to the animal. It nudged against his hand and curled up next to his leg, purring as he ran his hand over its fur. His new distraction kept him from noticing the person approaching him from a different shadowed place. “Well, what do we have here?” The voice was sharp and playful.

Adrien looked up to see Ladybug standing over him, her face still covered in dripping red paint, a towel around her neck, and her bag slung over one shoulder with the grip of a sore hand.

“You came with the Bubbler, didn’t you?” It wasn’t a question really, and he couldn’t find a way to reply without his voice croaking from nerves.

He hadn’t been able to see her up close before but now he could see everything. Lean body, full lips, sparkling blue eyes, jet black hair damp with sweat, and muscles – oh! the muscles. Her arms were small but when she tensed at his stunned silence, the muscles in her arms were mapped out. Her waist was decked out in a very faint 6-pack only visible due to the moonlight enlightening the sweat still dripping down her subtle trenches.

She finally sighed. “Go home and fix that brain of yours,” she uttered, knocking on his head as she stepped over his stretched out legs, “Chat Noir.”


	2. The Clutz

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dancing is Marinette's favorite thing to do.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another chapter! Thank you for my two comments and my kudos. It made me so happy to see the notifications.  
> (^u^)  
> Enjoy this chapter!

Another night gone, and there Marinette lie wishing it was still going.

She had yet to wash away the sweat and paint from the night at Miraculous Beat. Being there was her favorite pastime, and when she wasn’t there, she wished she was. It wasn’t just the dancing: it was the atmosphere. The crowd that went there to watch and dance like her and the crew, the way she and the others could joke around like they had known each other their whole lives, and the way her name was cheered while she danced were all reasons well worth the fatigue she felt every night.

Being Ladybug was the best thing that had ever happened to her.

No, being accepted into the troupe to become Ladybug was the best thing that had ever happened to her. Then, it was thanks to Alya for showing her the club before either of them were a part of it. For years the two girls trained hard to level up their dancing skills. When they felt they were ready, they entered the then monthly contest for new members. The club was running short on members at that point, so the girls felt confident they could get in. Alya challenged a miniature girl named Timebreaker while Marinette battled a tall girl called Reflekta. Alya had bested her opponent and was given the invitation to become a member of the club.

Marinette had failed.

She had to admit she wasn’t the most coordinated person, and that had been the cause of her defeat. During an attempt at a power move, she had slipped and fallen over, halting the energy of the battle. Reflekta had helped her up with a smile on her face, and Marinette had walked home alone, embarrassed.

“You can do this, Marinette. You worked just as hard for this as I did and more!” Alya had told her the next day. “Don’t give up. They don’t have any rules against people trying more than once.” It was a push towards challenging Reflekta again, and Marinette knew she didn’t have it in herself to stop dancing altogether. So, she made an appearance at the contest the next month. She had trained even more and was prepared with fresh ideas on how to continue if she was clumsy again.

“I admire your determination,” the hostess said as Marinette walked in the night of her second battle. “I think it’s going to be just fine this time.” The dark woman patted her on the back and walked away to announce the contest’s start.

Marinette had chosen to wear a lightweight black jacket with a silky surface and a red cap on her head this time, and there was no regret in the decision. The moves she dished out allowed her to flow through the competition with ease. She even slipped again on a spin and went into an unplanned freeze, but she used her “Catastrophe Options” and was able to avoid her clumsiness ruining it for her again.

“Ladybug” had been given to her by the hostess the following day when she showed up for her first night as a member. “It suits you,” the woman had said with a girlish giggle.

Now Marinette couldn’t fathom a time when she wasn’t Ladybug. School was, for the most part, entertaining yet boring since she was prohibited from dancing in public if it wasn’t as a group outing. Her parents didn’t know about her nightlife either, and it was hard for her to sneak in and out each night to meet up with Alya.

Tonight had been one of her best performances. She had been working on the one-handed airflare for a while now and was stoked when she performed it perfectly the week before. Reflekta had been proud of her even more than Alya. The crowd had gone crazy when she executed it in front of them, practically raging for her to do it again. Some of the audience members had even asked her to do it again for them after the dance sequence. Plagg had applauded her too, which was incredibly rare of him.

She had left the club extremely happy and desiring compliments. Then she remembered the unexpected newcomer.

She forced herself up from her floor and grabbed a towel. The glow of green eyes in the moonlight shot through her memory as she thought of the boy she had found in the alley. She recalled seeing a blurry version of him in the crowd as she danced and thought it would be fun to play with him as a way to get some last minute fun in the night. But he had just gawked at her the whole time. The way he looked at her – the awe – scared her. Sure she was cool when she danced, but when she was moving like any normal person, there was nothing significant about her… Yet he had stared at her like she was still performing.

Why she called him Chat Noir was a loss to her. She saw him with a black cat and his black hood pulled over golden hair and thought it’d be… – what? – amusing? This was why Alya told her never to talk when she was tired: she says stupid things that she can’t explain.

Marinette found herself wondering if he was a dancer and then mentally kicking herself, telling herself she doesn’t care. She would text Alya about it but knew the other girl would never let it go as a simple conversation.

So Marinette had to bite her lip when she saw him the next night.

The layout of the club was never the same two nights in a row. Fridays usually sported the white mat, but other nights had different acts. Sometimes there were small, round platforms that were rolled out of the backstage area and onto the floor. Other times there was the long stage that had been altered to slide under the curtain that lined the main wall. Then, there were nights where nothing was set out and the crew dancers mingled with the crowd. Tonight there were the platforms.

Evillustrator and Timebreaker were up on the other two platforms while Bubbler was playing DJ. She didn’t like having solo dances, but it was a common request from fans. So when Lady Wifi needed a break, Ladybug was asked to take her place. Marinette climbed onto the platform and almost fell right back off. Guess it’s a clumsy night, she thought. Lady Wifi high-fived her and jumped off the stage to make her way to the bar. Marinette felt the tempo of the new song throughout her body and let it take her away. She had been so enthralled with her dancing that she hadn’t noticed the audience that had gathered around her platform. And in that audience was a familiar face with eyes that seemed to be glowing at expense of the light effects ricocheting across the room. His blond hair was outlining the wicked smirk he displayed as he gazed up at her, hands in pockets. What a strange boy, she thought. Downright handsome but strange.

It eventually came time for Lady Wifi to take her place back, and Ladybug headed straight for backstage. The long area behind the curtain and backdrop was decorated with ropes and pulleys. Marinette liked to go there to rest when she didn’t have a performance. Often times she practiced in the rafts hanging close to the ceiling. Tonight, she just felt like being alone.

Though, before she could reach her solitude, the boy turned to her. “Nice dancing,” he commented. She considered him, placing her hands on her hips, and pursed her lips.

“So you can spot an expert, good job,” she teased, “but that’s not what’s important.” She stuck her chin out at him. “Can you dance?”

“Is that a challenge, My Lady?” he asked, raising an eyebrow. She squinted her eyes at him.

“Don’t call me that.” She dropped her arms and tried to look cool as she walked away.

________________________________

“Who was that guy you were talking to earlier?” Alya asked Marinette as they left the club later that night. Alya was wiping off her black mask on a towel, still in her Lady Wifi disguise.

“I don’t know,” Marinette answered, shrugging. “He complimented my dancing.” She rubbed the back of her neck. “And I may have indirectly challenged him.”

“Whoa, whoa, you did what now?” Alya finished wiping off the paint and stared flabbergasted at her friend. “Girl, you never challenge people. They always do it to you.”

“Yeah, I know.” Marinette knew she’d regret saying it.

“And you never go along with it either. You hate battles!”

“Yup,” she agreed again as Alya rambled.

“So why in the world would you-” Alya suddenly froze. Then, her eyes slid over to Marinette with a growing smile on her face, a very, very sinister smile. “Oh, I see.”

“What? What do you think you see?” Marinette almost didn’t want to know, but she would be up all night thinking about it if she didn’t ask.

“You think he’s cute, don’t you?” Marinette hoped she would keep over and die right there in the street. “I know that look! You think he’s cute!” Marinette just put her head in her hand and kept walking. “Oh, I know this too. You’re trying to escape the topic.” Alya waved her finger at her. “Oh no you don’t. I will be coming back to this topic.”

“And I completely believe you,” Marinette sighed. “Just give me time to come up with an answer you would accept.” Alya considered it.

“Fine, but don’t think I’ll be forgetting this.”

“Don’t you have better things to be contemplating? You know, things like your contest next week.” Marinette personally couldn’t wait to see her friend utterly annihilate any that tried to defeat her next Friday.

“Oh, I got this covered.” The confidence radiated off of Alya like a fire. “I’ve been working on my Floor Lock.” Marinette smiled.

Alya was always so proud in her dancing, sure that she would do well no matter how nervous she was, and the contests proved that. Marinette couldn’t stand when she was the participant but loved every moment of the contest when it was one of her friends. Evillustrator had been the last person to join the crew and that was nearly over a year ago. Every member of the group had been working so hard that the next newcomer – if there ever was another – would have to be close to Ladybug’s skill level, especially since she was the only one to date that could beat any of her colleagues.

She and the other crew members always gathered along the mat on Fridays to watch the competitions.

And, for some reason, they found it enjoyable to watch their troupe stay the same size.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well? Next chapter will definitely have more, especially chapter 4 (^u-)b
> 
> And remember, comments help any author.


	3. Nothing Revealing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The battle approaches.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for my comment and my kudos, everyone!  
> I hope you enjoy this chapter.

To some, Adrien might have been considered obsessed. Every night, he snuck out of his house and made his way to Miraculous Beat to watch Nino’s crew members dance. The bouncer always let him through thanks to Nino, and Adrien admitted to feeling bad for those kids left behind in the grey room because they weren’t allowed in. Though, the feeling didn’t last long. The moment he walked into the club and the music hit him, he felt adrenaline course through his veins and the great need to expend all of his energy.

Ladybug was undoubtedly his favorite dancer of the crew. It wasn’t the moves she chose. It wasn’t even her skill level or the way she could conduct each move perfectly. It was her style – the way she moved. It enticed Adrien, made him curious of what made her dance like there was no tomorrow.

When he wasn’t appreciating Ladybug, he was studying Lady Wifi. It was the one advantage he had over her in the contest Friday. She had no idea what he could do, but he could at least have an idea of what she was capable of. He had learned that taunting was her favorite thing to do, whether it was a performance or just freestyle. She loved to tease her crowd into cheering for her, loved to indirectly challenge anyone willing to – probably – embarrass themselves in a battle. He wouldn’t be embarrassed, however, and he would not be defeated. He figured out by Tuesday that her favorite move-set was a coin drop into a windmill. After all, it was the one move she did continuously throughout each night.

Like any normal human being, Lady Wifi had to take a break every once in a while, and, when Ladybug wasn’t dancing, Adrien would join the audience for the other crew members. Evillustrator was pretty good, even if Adrien didn’t entirely understand his name. Horrificator was also good but was obviously shy and disliked performing in front of the piles of people each night. Dark Cupid and Gamer often teamed up within the crowd, including viewers in their freestyle most of the time. Adrien couldn’t comprehend most of the “code names” the members exhibited but brushed it off as an inside joke.

On Wednesday, Nino informed him that Ladybug hosted a dance class for beginner B-boys and B-girls. Though he didn’t quite understand why Adrien was interested, Nino led him through a door by the stage curtain, past the entrance to the backstage area, and to a small white-washed room with a horizontal bar along three walls and a large mirror on the fourth. Nino left his friend there to return for his turn being DJ, and Adrien had no problem with it.

There wasn’t anyone but Ladybug in the room, but he suspected people would show up sooner or later. He walked in with his now favorite kind of smile, the proud, sinister smile, as she stretched. Ladybug didn’t falter in her stretching. She only looked up in the mirror and saw him standing with his arms crossed by the door.

“Can I help you?” she asked, changing positions.

He shifted his weight and replied, “I heard you teach beginners back here.” She continued stretching her leg on the bar like a ballerina.

“Something tells me you aren’t a beginner.” Her voice echoed through the room to him and made him shiver. She stood up straight and finally faced him from across the room. “Now, leave before my actual students get here.”

“How do you know I’m not a beginner? You haven’t seen me dance before,” he played. Just like a cat and mouse, huh? she thought.

“I saw you talking to Dark Cupid. The only reason someone searches for him so adamantly is for battling, and no beginner is that stupid as to jump into a contest without any training.”

“Maybe I’m just that stupid.” Adrien felt criminally happy getting to talk to Ladybug for so long. Before she could reply, though, two kids walked through the door and stared at her nervously.

She sighed, shooing Adrien away. “Out. I don’t want you spooking the newbies.”

“Of course, My Lady,” he bowed. As he turned to exit the room, he heard her mumble, “Don’t call me that,” and smirked.

___________________________

“So she kicked you out, huh?” Nino asked, standing beside Adrien as Lady Wifi danced her heart out in front of them with a small group of kids their age. “Ladybug doesn’t like it when the experienced break into her lessons. They always intimidate the beginners and overall freak them out enough for them to give up dancing. Once, she even challenged a bully just to prove to the newbies that the guy had nothing going for him and they couldn’t give up just because someone told them to.” Adrien’s heart swelled with feeling toward Ladybug. He just had to get to know this girl.

“Hey, Bubbler!” Lady Wifi called to Nino and waved at him to join her.

“C’mon, dude,” Nino told Adrien. “You don’t have to show your breaking moves until Friday, but let’s at least serve the purpose of the club.” Adrien was hesitant in following Nino into Lady Wifi’s party but eventually took the step forward. Nino was right: the club was made for everyone to dance and have fun. He didn’t have to do anything skill-revealing yet.

So he danced as the different colored lights shot across the room along with the music and as Lady Wifi and Nino moved awfully close to one another with rhythm and even as the troupe members joined in. He was enjoying himself so much, he hadn’t noticed that his group and Ladybug’s class of beginners had merged until he bumped into the teacher herself. She froze as if to apologize for knocking into him but kept her mouth shut when she realized who it was. He watched her resume her casual dancing following the encounter and was astonished by the smile that lit up her masked face.

When Dark Cupid announced the club was shutting down for the night, Adrien set out for the door, all the while paying attention to how Ladybug and Lady Wifi stuck close together as they headed backstage. Nino met up with him outside with a red face. “Tonight was great!” he cheered.

“Yeah,” Adrien agreed with a thin smile and a side look at his friend. “You and Lady Wifi seemed to be having a lot of fun.” He clutched his stomach as he laughed at Nino’s expression.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, man,” Nino answered truthfully. Adrien decided to drop the conversation and save it for another time. As the two boys approached their separate paths home, Adrien was asked, “You ready for Friday?”

His hair bounced as he nodded. “You bet I am. I have to do well.”

“You know, the owners have no problem with people retrying if they don’t pass the battle,” Nino mentioned.

Adrien was surprised. “You don’t think I’ll be good enough?”

“No, no,” the other boy defended with waving hands, “I just wanted you to know. It’s not that easy to be accepted into the crew anymore. It’s not just about being able to dance.” Adrien already knew this — or more, he had already suspected this. Of course, the troupe couldn’t just let in any talented dancer. They had to be able to give back to the club in some way or another. At least, that’s what Adrien thought had to happen. Nino wasn’t allowed to help him in any respect, so he couldn’t even tell Adrien the details of what else he had to be capable of doing.

Adrien was prepared.   
He just hoped he could pull of decent moves Friday night. If not, like Nino said, he could always compete again. Even though he really wanted to be accepted the first go-round, he would just have to make sure he would get accepted at all.

___________________________

Thursday night — the night before Adrien’s battle against Lady Wifi — and he was watching Ladybug instead of his competitor. She was just so mesmerizing. Adrien knew he wasn’t the only one that thought so either, based on the audience surrounding Ladybug whenever she danced and wherever she went afterwards. In that crowd, he noticed one of her students from the day before and knew he wasn’t nearly as stalker-ish as Nino had made him out to be earlier that week. 

Nino had expressed to Adrien his love of being DJ and was at the post when Adrien had entered the club. Horrificator was in the grey room, chatting with the bouncer whose name Adrien still had yet to catch. All of the other crew members were going on and off the stage that had been pulled out of wall. The light green curtain was the backdrop for Gamer and Princess Fragrance as they casually danced to the light beat Nino put out the speakers. Lady Wifi and Ladybug were at the bar talking to the bartender and sipping at water.

It felt to him like he had been coming to the club for months by now. He was just so comfortable with the place and everything that made it what it was. From the splatter paintings that lined one wall to the seven cameos of single-colored fairy-like creatures above the bar, the club was definitely original. From the lights that flickered across everyone’s faces, troupe members or audience alike, to the upbeat music that brought all bodies to dance, Adrien felt like he belonged here. And who knows? he thought. Maybe that’s why there are always so many people.

He danced alongside anyone he was near, and anyone that was near danced with him. There were no boundaries, no names, and no ranks. Everyone could meld into each other here without any worry of the outside world. And that’s just what Adrien did. He took into account when Ladybug and Lady Wifi danced on stage together and when Nino joined him at the bar.

“I like it here, Nino,” Adrien told his best friend. Nino smiled.

“Well, try your best tomorrow,” he advised. “I believe in you, dude.” With Nino’s hand on his shoulder and a returning smile from himself, Adrien continued through the night, ready for his battle the next day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Personally, I don't think it's my best work, but it's work all the same.  
> Remember, comments help any author.  
> Till next time. (^u^)b


	4. Move It

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Marinette prepares.  
> Adrien gets pumped.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> School finals are the worst things ever, and they aren't even done yet o(T-T)o
> 
> Thanks so much for the comments and kudos, everyone! (I v I)  
> Enjoy the chapter

Marinette had gone straight to her practice room after school. Her parents were used to her staying at Alya’s on Fridays, so they never expected her home. For some reason, Marinette always found herself staring in the mirror of the white-washed room. Sometimes she thought herself beautiful; other times, she couldn’t even look back in the mirror. It was an odd habit of hers, but it came to her easily.

Often times, she would be completely alone in the club for hours. She would turn on the music and practice certain moves or just start dancing. Her days were becoming harder to get through as she got older, and she found that dancing was the release. Only once before had anyone caught her in the room. When Marinette had noticed the figure leaning against the doorframe, she was almost frightened she would be told to leave, but Tikki simply smiled at her before walking away.

The sun was on the horizon when the other troupe members started to arrive. She dressed in the outfit labeled for her by Princess Fragrance and sat patiently as Evillustrator put cold paint across her face. Alya appeared just as she was about to help set up the white mat for the competition. Marinette returned to help Alya stretch.

“I’m so ready for this,” Alya uttered, prideful. Marinette folded strands of her friend’s hair neatly over each other in a braid. “I love it when it’s my turn.” She forced Alya’s head back into place when the girl had tried to turn to look at her. “I don’t think I’ll ever understand why you don’t like being the competition.” Marinette remained quiet as she dropped a black beanie on Alya’s head. Alya pulled the cover tight over her head, her single red-tinted braid trailing down her spine.

“Time to stretch,” Marinette finally said. If it weren’t for her, Alya would jump into every night without warming up. The first time this happened, Alya had been complaining the next day that she was sore. That’s when Tikki had found Marinette her job. While watching Marinette force Alya into stretching, Tikki noticed her knack for helping people and offered her what she could contribute to the club. Marinette would teach the next generation of dancers.

“Think anyone will get in this time?” Timebreaker asked as she started to stretch across the room with Horrificator beside her.

“You ask that every week,” Dark Cupid groaned, walking in. Marinette smiled while more of her friends entered the room. “No one ever gets to join.”

Princess Fragrance chimed in, “Maybe this will be the week.”

“Ever the optimist,” Reflekta remarked from the doorway. She couldn’t dance anymore and so had no reason to stretch, but she always went wherever the rest of them were anyway.

“What do I hear about an optimist?” Bubbler strode in.

“They’re talking about whether or not someone new will get to join just like every Friday,” Alya told him. He hummed in response. “Personally, I’m slightly offended. I think I’m going to crush the challengers like usual.” She shrugged.

Marinette always enjoyed the time before the club opened just as much as when it was packed with people. Each night, the members would join her and Alya in her practice room. It had become a tradition of sorts. Everyone with their painted masks and change of clothes matching their alter-personality would welcome everyone into the club the moment Tikki signaled for Stoneheart to let people in.

Gamer was playing DJ when Marinette spotted Bubbler talking to a familiar blond boy. “Has he told you anything lately?”

“Who? Bubbler?” Alya asked, looking for the topic of conversation. “He wished me good luck earlier.”

“That’s suspicious,” Marinette analyzed. “He always just assumes we’ll do great.” The boy had to be connected. “He must know that boy – the one participating tonight.”

“Him? Isn’t that the boy you were talking to earlier this week?” Alya raised her eyebrows playfully and elbowed her friend. The announcement by Dark Cupid for the start of the competition saved Marinette from coming up with an excuse. The troupe took their places around the mat. Reflekta and Stoneheart never took part in this habit of the other members, more because Stoneheart had to keep his job of bouncer and Reflekta didn’t like to be in the crowd. Marinette stood between Gamer and Bubbler. Then, it was Timebreaker, Dark Cupid, Horrificator, Evillustrator, Alya, and Princess Fragrance. They all placed themselves on the edge of the mat to separate the battle from the audience.

The night’s activity began.

A girl clad in black pants and a purple and white swirled top sauntered onto the mat. She stood in front of Lady Wifi with a bold smile, swiping her long blond pigtail off of her shoulder. “You can call me Stormy Weather, Lady Wifi,” she cackled. “Be glad I came with my name prepared. Now you don’t have to name me yourself.”

“Glad she’s confident,” Bubbler commented sarcastically. Marinette was wary of “Stormy Weather’s” ego and started to wonder a scary consideration: was the troupe losing its charm? Had the absence of a new member for so long struck the appeal of the club? Is that why the girl was so proud against an expert dancer like Alya?

She was right, of course. Some of the troupe’s fans had become bored with the lack of new members, and, in turn, resulted in those fans considering the club inferior and a cheat. They thought that all of those that had battled were good enough and the club was simply pushing them away due to their own selfishness. One boy even claimed to have been accepted by the owners but shunned by the dancers and forced into quitting before his debut performance. Of course, the fans did not know that he was lying. It had come to the point where the “ex-fans” considered themselves their own group and constantly claimed they were better than those at Miraculous Beat. The troupe was unfortunately unaware of the cases concerning this secretive group and so was oblivious of the situation that had presented itself on the mat as Stormy Weather, one of the very “ex-fans” that stood condescendingly in front of Lady Wifi.

Marinette looked around and felt the familiar auras of her teammates amongst the crowd. In their eyes she could see they had not had the same revelation as her. As much as she knew they were all completely comfortable with the troupe never changing, with them never learning to sync with a new member again, they needed someone to beat Lady Wifi. _I’m sorry, Alya_ , she silently apologized.

“It’s okay, Ladybug.” The marvelously beautiful hostess appeared by her side. “Everything will be just fine.” The woman’s pure black skin glistened under the normal light in the club. Her blue eyes wandered around the crowd before she sounded the girlish giggle Marinette had become fond of. Marinette trusted this elegant beauty wholeheartedly and would do so until there was cause to disagree. If Tikki thought the club and troupe alike would be okay, then they would be.

Against her best wishes, Marinette found herself hoping Stormy Weather would mess up, and when the challenger’s prop – she had actually tried breaking with a parasol! – caused that fault in the movements, she had to hide her relief. Stormy Weather would not be joining the troupe.

Bubbler seemed particularly interested in the next competitor. _Ah_ , she thought, _it’s his turn._

Adrien took to the floor swiftly, trying not to seem as confident as the last girl. He desperately hoped he had never looked so cocky in his life. _What an embarrassment._

Lady Wifi was calm, or at least trying to appear so. It looked as if she was literally biting her tongue to keep from laughing. Luckily, she managed to compose herself when Adrien stepped before her. “Do _you_ have anything to declare?” she joked.

“I don’t think so,” he shrugged. The music began and he dipped into a playful bow. “Ladies first.” She giggled a little before accepting his offer. She always had such a lively toprock. It energized Adrien and fueled the crowd’s excitement. This was going to be a fun battle.

Marinette was amazed, considerably so, as she regretted her underestimation of Bubbler’s acquaintance. This blond boy was actually quite attractive when he danced. He moved with suave and certainty, and the morale he declared with each movement wasn’t overdone like the last contender. It was pleasant to the eye and almost had her cheering for him like the rest of the crowd. Alya seemed to notice and even clapped for him when he waited for her turn. Her beginning motions practically screamed, “But can you do _this_?”

Marinette found herself thinking, _Of course he can._ And he did.

Adrien had been practicing Lady Wifi’s favorite move and, sure enough, executed the coin drop into a back spin. They went back and forth for another two rounds, physically asking if they could do certain moves, before they both burst into continuous dancing. A cue in the music indicated the song was coming to an end, and the two performers spun into their own finishing poses. Lady Wifi committed to her coin drop and sent it into a windmill followed by her freeze. Adrien slid through a chilling drop and ended with his arms crossed dramatically and face red from exhilaration.

Lady Wifi shook his hand with a smile and gestured for the next participant. A woman with skin just a shade lighter than the bartender’s own met him in the crowd and issued for him to follow her. Through the sea of people he could see Nino giving him a thumbs-up. 

Her conversation was quick and to-the-point. They stood near the bar, where the bartender seemed to be eavesdropping, while she asked him a simple question: “I take it we can expect you tomorrow night?”

At first, he couldn’t focus. What was she asking of him? Had he done well or not, and when would he find out? Who was supposed to contact him? He continued through the mental interrogation before feeling the need to curse his stupidity.

“So, I-I’m in?” he breathed. The woman nodded and smiled at his expression, which was dumbfounded and giddy. He had wanted this- had expected this, but was it actually happening, or had all this only been a dream?

He nodded to her original question and watched as she returned to her position between the mat and DJ. “Here,” the bartender said from behind him. Adrien turned with a moment of surprise and accepted the glass of water with a soft “thanks.” “You did well out there, kid.” A pat on the back and a few minutes later Adrien was refreshed and excited for the next day.

_____________________

Marinette and Bubbler kept exchanging glances with Lady Wifi and the rest of the troupe members. The guy on the mat – he was, well… How were they to word this?

He was a copycat.

Every single thing he had done from the moment the music started was exactly what Bubbler’s friend had done only minutes before. Or, at least, an _attempt_ at what Bubbler’s friend had done. This copycat was good, but not good enough to even complete the moves he tried.

After him, there had been a couple more dancers, but none of them were skilled enough to reach the end of their songs. Alya looked tired, but when Marinette went up to her, she still seemed as pumped as any other kid there. “Oh, Ladybug, that one guy was _awesome_!” she hissed in Marinette’s ear.

“He was, wasn’t he?” Bubbler stepped up to them. Marinette mentally noted how loud Alya’s whispers were.

“Is he a friend of yours?” she asked him with a suspicious look. He put his hands up in defense.

“Don’t worry, Ladybug. I didn’t cheat. He did great all on his own.” He stuck his hands back in his pants pockets. “He is my best friend, though. Recently, he finally landed a power move I was using to judge on when I could introduce him to this place. If I had done it any sooner, he would have been one of those newbs we’re always afraid will embarrass themselves.”

“What will we name him?” Alya asked excitedly.

“Whoa, whoa, who said Tikki and Plagg were impressed with him?” Marinette put her hands on her hips.

“Oh, come on, girl, you thought he did great too,” Alya teased, poking Marinette in the shoulder. Marinette refused to admit it aloud. “I think he should have a name matching his good looks.”

“Hey!” Bubbler cut in. “He’s not nearly as good looking as I am.”

“Well, you two talk about it and fill me in later,” Alya waved. “I gotta go find Tikki.”

Marinette watched Bubbler stare after Alya and couldn’t help the comment that slipped from her mouth. “Why don’t you just ask her out already?” Seeing Bubbler’s face go red beneath his blue mask was the most amusing thing she had witnessed all night.

“D-D-Don’t – Don’t we have m-more important things to t-talk about?” Bubbler hyperventilated. Despite her amusement, Marinette cursed the filter that hadn’t stopped her comment. “L-Like the-the new guy’s n-na-name?”

“Sorry, Bubbler,” she replied helplessly. “I didn’t mean to say it like that.” _Or at all_ , she thought. “I still think we should ensure he’s in before coming up with names, though.”

“Well, _I’ll_ still think of some for the meeting.” Bubbler was glancing around nervously.

“Go ahead.” She shrugged and considered the memory of his friend dancing. She nodded to herself at the next thought that came to her and couldn’t help the grin spreading on her face, which made Bubbler seem even more uncomfortable.  
An idea rebellious to her own denial formed in her head, and she thought, _I think I have the_ purrfect _name_.  
_______________________

Plagg lit the candles on the bar as Tikki announced the performance. All lights in the room had been put out as Lady Wifi stood at the center of the white mat. The spotlight lit up her taunting grin, and she moved simultaneous with the music’s start. At that moment, the room was ablaze in color. Marinette loved to watch Alya dance, knowing that they had become what they now were together. It was her sense of pride that constantly reminded her of their accomplishment, and that same pride that had her wanting to jump out to join her friend.

“Hey, move it!” someone screamed in her ear, pushing her. She turned her head and glared at the girl. It was Stormy Weather. She silently groaned at her bad luck. “Oh, it’s you, Ladybug,” the blonde giggled.

“Can I help you?” Marinette asked as nicely as she could.

“Well, no, not yet. You see, I’ll _eventually_ need someone to show me around once I’m announced as the contest winner.” Marinette scowled and scooted away from the girl. _How could Stormy Weather still be so confident after she obviously hadn’t done well?_

Alya’s performance finished, and Marinette spun around to meet her friend’s cheerful gaze. High fives were made as Marinette complimented the dance. “Thanks, girl,” Alya beamed. She cupped her hand around Marinette’s ear. “So I talked to Tikki. He’s good to go.” There was nothing surprising in the statement. Most everyone had expected it, but it still sent a shiver down Marinette’s spine. They had a new member. They were going to have someone new to dance with – a whole new colleague. She actually considered looking forward to synchronizing with him but stopped herself short to slide on a mask of indifference.

Alya then greeted Bubbler, who was walking away from his friend. “I imagine you explained everything to him?” Alya asked.

“Just when we can meet up tomorrow and how he can’t come to tonight’s meeting,” Bubbler shrugged. Marinette cocked her head to watch the friend exit and as he got thumbs up and pats on the back from kids walking beside him.

Following Alya and Bubbler to the meeting area, she smiled. There was one thing she could not wait for in concern of this new member: the performance between Ladybug and Chat Noir.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welp, I hope that went well for you.
> 
> I have a quick video for you if you're interested: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8jUdeuAOEJg
> 
> Remember, comments help any author (*u*)


	5. The Cookie Situation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What was that tag again...?
> 
> #feedadrien2016

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here we go with another chapter!  
> Now that school is officially over for me and I'm taking the quiet time between then and packing for college, I can write a bit.
> 
>  
> 
> I'm telling you this website was determined to make sure I didn't upload this chapter what with all its editing and annotation malfunctions.

Adrien decided he couldn’t have been more miserable. Alternatively, Nino had been laughing at his impatience with all the splendor of a best friend. Nino’s text read: “Can we at least get to tonight before you go crazy on me?”

Adrien could make no promises. He hadn’t slept the night before as he was constantly thinking about his new membership. He imagined Nino announcing him to the club’s audience and hoped he would become a favorite.

“I mean,” Nino’s next message read, “I get it. I was pretty stoked when I got in too, but you gotta keep your cool. Otherwise, you might embarrass yourself.” Adrien knew he was right. There was no way Adrien could risk the cool image he planned for himself.

The day was rather bland. Adrien normally didn’t have a problem with getting through the extra activities his father set up for him when there was no school, but today was different. He was getting distracted and irritated by the work much quicker than usual. While at school the past week, he noticed how it appealed less and less to him. There was always the steady light of the classroom and the soft pattering of students walking outside the door, but there were no multicolored lights dancing across the room and no loud chattering and laughing of students and adults alike. At school, he only really had Nino as his friend, but now that he was a member of the troupe, he would have everyone at his side.

Finally, his activities were completed and Adrien could start his night of fun. Rather than going home until the time he and Nino had agreed upon meeting, he found himself walking toward the alley an hour early. When he got there, he froze and took out his phone to see the time. Four o’clock. The club opened to the members at 4:30, so he hadn’t expected anyone else to be in the alley. Yet, there she was. “Ladybug,” he heard himself mutter. The dancer was wearing casual clothes with a gym bag at her feet. A single chocolate chip fell from the treat in her hand as she looked up at him. It was odd seeing her without the red mask across her face – though, her hair was still parted into her pigtails, much to his relief –, and he felt too warm in his hoodie all of a sudden.

“Oh, it’s you,” she uttered unemotionally, returning to her cookie.

Adrien felt awkward standing at the entrance to the alley, his hands in his pockets and his face stupid from surprise. _Talk, talk, talk_ , he told himself. “Ah, hello, Ladybug,” he started. “Good to-to see you. W-Wonderful, isn’t it? I mean, the day, that is. Isn’t the day wonderful? A wonderful day? A wonderful you!” He let his voice trail off as he became aware of the sidelong gaze Ladybug was giving him with scrunched eyebrows. She didn’t change her look until he chuckled a little and stared at the edge between the wall and floor. “Anyway, why are you here so early?”

She glanced at him once more before dragging herself to continue to eat the treat leaving melted chocolate on her fingertips. “Why are _you_?” He considered telling her that Nino was going to show him around but decided against it on the controversy of whether or not the members knew only each other’s “code names.” He would have felt stupid saying either of Nino’s names if it was incorrect. So instead, he shrugged. When she didn’t reply, he pretended to be looking at something on his phone, but in reality, he was only flipping between the pages on his home screen.

It seemed like his day was repeating itself when it came to how long it seemed to take 4:30 to come around. He was jittery and embarrassed and uncertain. He wanted to talk to Ladybug but was worried he’d embarrass himself again. After the awkward silence that had befallen him, the simple crunch following her finishing the cookie made him jump. Finally, she opened the door in the wall at the end of the alley and disappeared into it. At first, the door remained ajar, like she was waiting for him to enter too, but then it slammed shut. Nino showed up fifteen minutes later.

“I knew you’d be here early,” he remarked.

“Yeah, I got here at four,” Adrien mumbled, rubbing the back of his head. Nino’s eyes went wide before he started to laugh.

“You were stuck out here with Ladybug!” How Nino knew this was a loss to Adrien, and he decided not to find out. He requested they “just go inside already.”

A short brick hallway with doors spread out on either side was not what Adrien had expected. “Restrooms,” Nino directed. “Practice room used for performance preparations.” He pointed to the last door on their right. “That’s the owners’ office. There are actually seven of them, you know. Tikki and Plagg are two. They host the club rather than do all the paperwork and such.”

“Who are _they_?” _And what odd names…_ Adrien thought.

“Wait,” Nino stopped walking, “you’re telling me you didn’t even realize who you speaking to?” Adrien shrugged, a response becoming common for his embarrassment. Nino sighed and shook his head. “Okay, so Tikki is the woman you talked to after your performance, and Plagg takes care of the bar.” Adrien thought of the man he had met his first night in the club: the bartender with the black skin and green eyes talking to him in an accent Adrien now recognized as similar to the woman’s – Tikki’s.

“This is where we prepare,” Nino continued. The open space wasn’t large, but Adrien couldn’t help comparing it to the behind-the-scenes of a fashion show. There were three vanities against a wall and a table on the other. A clothing rack stood on the back wall with a thin room divider next to it, compressed. Adrien recognized the bag that lie behind it as Ladybug’s. The red-head Adrien remembered as Evillustrator walked past them and sat at a vanity. “Evillustrator’s one of the only ones with a steady enough hand here to apply all the masks.”

They moved down the shallow opening to their left. “This is the way to the stage,” Nino gestured to an open door that gave sight to the pulleys and dust bunnies of the backstage area. “And you’ve been here.” Another open door – this one on their right – revealed the white-washed room Ladybug taught the newbies in. She was in there now, staring into the mirror at close-range with a look of determination.

“What’s she doing?” Adrien whispered. Luckily, Ladybug didn’t notice them.

Nino shrugged and replied, “According to Lady Wifi, she does it all the time. No clue why, though.” He waved his hand. “Let’s go. Her wrath is something to fear if we bother her.” Nino drew back the small velvet curtain that separated the troupe’s space from the actual club. There was a hiccup in Adrien’s breathing as he took in the deserted area. There was nothing: no people, no music, no stages or white mat, absolutely nothing. It seemed a normal room with decorations and a wooden floor. Plagg waved at them from the bar. Tikki was with him and turned to see who her companion was paying attention to. Her smile was sweet and bright even from across the room.

“They almost look related,” Adrien commented. Now that the two of them were next to each other, he could clearly see the similarity between their pure black skin. Even though their eyes were two different colors, they too shared the same illumination and intriguing gaze.

“We think so too,” Nino agreed, “but none of us have the courage to mention it to them.” Nino dropped the curtain and headed back for the open area. Ladybug was now picking through the clothing rack. Other members had arrived as well. Evillustrator, now dressed and bearing his black mask, stood in front of Horrificator, who sat on the table. Various colors sat next to her as Evillustrator applied yellow around her eyes. “Time to get ready.”

“What about me?” Adrien hissed, contemplating how awkward he felt once again. He didn’t want to just wander around the area not knowing what to do.

“Don’t worry.” Nino slung his arm over his friend’s shoulder. “See her?” He pointed to a girl with short blond hair and big blue eyes that stood beside the clothing rack. “That’s Princess Fragrance. She probably has you covered already. Though, you shouldn’t worry about it. You won’t be going out into the club tonight.”

Adrien was taken aback. “Wait, why?”

“Tradition.” Nino shrugged and led Adrien toward a wall where they wouldn’t be blocking anyone’s path into the club. “You see, it’s tradition for a newcomer to have a debut dance. Lady Wifi will join you at some point in the song Reflekta chooses for you. You’ll have to work with her on the choreography and complete your performance to be an official troupe member.”

“Alright,” he responded skeptically. Ladybug emerging from behind the room divider distracted him. She was dressed in a 2-sizes-too-big red tank top with a black sports bra underneath and loose pants. She also sported a red and black polka dotted baseball cap atop her head. Evillustrator waved her over to him as Horrificator took her turn to change clothes. Adrien watched Ladybug pull herself up onto the table and allow her face to be bestowed its red mask.

Nino’s nudge is what stopped his staring. “Look. There’s Reflekta.” Adrien knew he hadn’t heard the name before and so wasn’t surprised when the unfamiliar girl approached him. She was tall and lean with long black and purple hair trailing her back. Her face was kind enough, but Adrien felt something was off. “She’ll take care of you for now. See ya later, dude!” Nino pat him on the back and rushed off to prepare for his night of dancing.

“Hi,” she muttered. “I’m Reflekta. Follow me.” Ladybug strutted by him as he was led back into the entrance hall and gave him a passing glance. Lady Wifi greeted him when she walked through the door, but Reflekta was already bustling him into the practice room. The walls in here were a faded baby blue, but other than that, it looked just like Ladybug’s room. There was even a stereo sitting on a table in the corner along the mirror wall with a chair beside it, which Reflekta immediately took to.

“So,” he began in a drawling tone, “Can you explain things better to me than my friend?” She laughed at him, and he could only sigh. How many times had he been laughed at that day already? She silenced herself and smiled minutely at him in an offering way. “Does anyone here actually know anyone by their real names?”

“No,” she answered gently. “Unless we personally know a member outside the troupe, no one knows any real names. I take it you were curious how to refer to Bubbler?” He nodded. “Just refer to him _as ___Bubbler. We usually prefer to keep our names out of club life in hopes of not being automatically recognized in the public. True our appearances aren’t hidden, but our names give us at least some mystery.”

“How am I supposed to meet all the other members if I have to stay in here?” 

“Don’t worry.” She crossed her arms and legs, leaning back in the chair comfortably. “You’ll get your chance once this is over with. It’s not my favorite tradition, and it wasn’t even around when I had joined. Timebreaker came up with the idea. I suppose you want to know more about the club, right? Everyone usually does.” 

“Yes, please.” He sat cross-legged on the floor and bit the inside of his cheek. 

“We still refer to ourselves as a troupe even though that word more refers to when the owners themselves were the performers. Since then, we still go around and dance in different sections of the city, but it’s not large-scale. When the owners found this settlement, they decided to make the club. It started off as anyone dancing, but it became boring for a few of the owners. That’s when they opened the group back up for members. So many people were desperate to be a part of the ‘hot, new club,’” she bent two fingers on either hand to appeal as quotes. “Tikki and Plagg were difficult, though. To get in, you didn’t have to be an excellent B-boy or B-girl; you just had to impress them. 

“The club was growing, but as years passed, the members got older and had to leave to go on with their lives. Timebreaker and I joined while the club still had a good number of performers, and we watched as they left one by one. Then, Ladybug and Lady Wifi got in. Stoneheart, Gamer, Dark Cupid, and all the others came flooding in just as the last ‘old member’ was retiring. You’re the last one we’ve had in a good year. No one has been impressing Plagg and Tikki lately. In fact, they haven’t even been impressing _us_ ,” she referred to the group as a whole. “I’m glad Bubbler brought you in.” 

Adrien smiled. This club was truly amazing, and a new form of excitement spread through him along with pride. He was _actually_ a part of this miraculous “troupe.” A thought quickly broke that feeling. “Who’s Stoneheart? I don’t know that name.” 

“Oh, you know him,” Reflekta said, waving the question away. “He’s the bouncer. It takes a stone heart to tell someone they can’t join in on the fun. The rest of us would have let anyone and everyone in just because we thought they should _all_ have fun.” Well, it proved Adrien’s theory that all the pseudonyms were indeed inside jokes. “Shall we get started? First, I’ll need you to show me what your best moves are.” 

_____________________ 

Marinette was resisting the urge to roll her eyes. 

“Just _let me in_ ,” the voice demanded. 

Marinette was not in the mood for this tonight, but once she had heard the voice through the door, she couldn’t just leave Stoneheart to deal with it on his own. With a stiff hand and regret for wanting to offer Stoneheart a drink, she quickly swung open the door and closed it behind her. There was a party of kids in the lobby tonight, and they all stood up eagerly when they saw who she was. With a dull look, however, she ignored them and turned to the problem. 

“Ah, Ladybug, it’s always a pleasure to see _you_.” 

Stoneheart turned to her with a loll of his head. “Hi, Ladybug,” he groaned. 

“What seems to be the issue here?” she asked in an attempt to end this painfully. Before her stood the blond haired know-it-all preferably known as Chloe – though the troupe members had another name for their impudent fan. 

“You see, Ladybug,” Chloe chattered, “our _buddy_ here won’t let me in. I haven’t seen you or the others dance for, like, _a month_ now. I’m really getting bored of the outside entertainment, you know.” 

Marinette called upon her powers of persuasion and deception, knowing very well she was not one for illusions. “Well, Chloe, I hadn’t realized it had been that long!” she gasped, clapping her hands together in front of her. “I guess time got away from us during-” 

“Well, I suppose I can forgive you,” Chloe interrupted. 

“-our surprise for you.” Marinette was thankful the interruption hadn’t halted her appeal. Although, if Stoneheart continued the dumb look he was giving her, it could still be ruined. 

Chloe gawked a little with her arms crossed. She leaned back on her leg and stuck out her hip. “And what surprise is this?” 

Swallowing a threatening stutter, Marinette replied, placing a hand on Stoneheart’s shoulder to include him, “Well, what kind of surprise would it be if I told you _now_? I’m sorry, Chloe, you’re just going to have to wait a couple days more.” It was surprising to her that the response had _actually_ worked. Chloe shifted her weight again and jutted out her lip. She waved her hand and the frail girl Marinette hadn’t seen in months appeared at Chloe’s side. 

“Just tell Sabrina the exact date.” Chloe started to walk away before quickly turning back and waving splendidly at Marinette. “It really was too long, Ladybug! I can’t wait until we can hang out again!” 

Once Sabrina had stared at her long enough, Marinette forced the date for Chat Noir’s debut out her mouth and droopily faced Stoneheart once the girl had vanished. “Remind me to tell them all about this.” He nodded at her with a small smile and glared at the observing party when she opened the door back into the club. 

It hadn’t taken long for her to get Alya since Time Breaker seemed glad to take Lady Wifi’s place dancing. “What’s up, girl?” Alya asked as Marinette continued to drag her through the curtain and into their “backstage area.” 

“Oh, she annoys me so much!” Marinette burst, releasing Alya’s hand and stopping herself mid-step. Awkwardly staring at them from his place a few feet in front of them was the to-be Chat Noir. None of them moved until he slowly retracted his empty hand from its outstretched position and stepped backwards into his practice room. 

“Well that was odd,” Alya broke the silence following the encounter. She travelled over to the platter of cookies on the table and grabbed one for herself. “Your parents make the best cookies. Now, what happened?” 

“ _Antibug_.” 

Alya choked on her cookie. “Are you serious?” When Marinette only crossed her arms in reply, she followed with “I thought we had gotten rid of her.” 

“Well, we thought wrong.” Marinette pulled herself up on the table to sit. “I was able to get her back out for another couple days, but she’ll be here for the performance.” 

“As long as we can avoid her afterwards we should be good, though, right?” Alya grabbed another cookie. 

“Yeah, except it’s not _you_ she’s obsessed with.” 

Antibug – the name for the pride-filled girl named Chloe, precisely labeled by the troupe members due to the pretentious specimen’s fixation on Ladybug. The name began as a joke to how Ladybug was in need of a repellant for the creature that was always buzzing around her, forming the title of a possible insecticide “Antibug.” 

“You have a point.” Alya snatched up her third cookie. “We’ll just come up with something. It’s all good. I _have_ been looking at some ways to get the troupe moving again.” 

“And what are those ‘ways’?” Marinette prompted. 

Alya only wiped the cookie crumbs away along with the question. “Can’t tell you yet,” she sang. 

_____________________ 

Adrien had only wanted a snack. Reflekta had said something about Ladybug having a habit of bringing food for the group. _Of course_ when he went out he would be caught in yet another awkward situation. Just how many could he have in one day? 

It hadn’t been entirely bad, though. After all, he had gotten to see Ladybug. It made him wonder what it was like to dance with the paint on. He had noticed the colors casually dripping down the dancers’ faces throughout the nights. Unfortunately, the simple thought of the red paint making its way down Ladybug’s face distracted him and caused him to trip over his own two feet in front of Reflekta, who only laughed. 

How many awkward moments could he have in one day? 

Too many. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am in deep need for the next season by the way. (Just thought I'd mention that)
> 
> Remember comments help any author
> 
> Thanks for reading (^u^)


	6. A Force Called Karma

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Karma - the force created by a person's actions that some people believe causes good or bad things to happen to that person
> 
> Where there's a Chloe, there's a way... to avoid her.  
> And our Adrien starts to-- glow?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welcome to chapter 6.
> 
> Sorry it took a while. I'm having some writer's block on everything (emphasis on the everything) that I am trying to do.  
> But here I am. So enjoy.

Everyone starts somewhere.

Marinette knew this as she made her way to the dance studio, Manon in hand. “But I don’t want to go there!” the child was screaming. “I want to dance with you today!”

“Please, Manon,” the babysitter practically begged. “Remember our promise.” Manon pouted and planted her feet on the sidewalk, refusing to move. “You go to ballet class, and I teach you later on. It’s that simple, Manon.” Marinette knew she was whining, but what else was she to do? Manon wasn’t exactly an easy kid to handle.

“Ballet is boring!” Now, Marinette couldn’t blame Manon for disliking ballet. She herself had been in the classes as a child but not much thereafter. Manon was an energetic child. Trying to contain her energy in a poised, swan-like position was probably not the best way to handle her. That’s why Marinette had offered a more _Manon_ -way to expend all the energy.

It wasn’t that Manon could do all of the moves Marinette tried to teach her, but that she caught on to them fairly quickly. It helped that Manon was beginning to join her mother in her afternoon exercises. Though, Marinette was sure that _she_ would find it strange if _her_ child suddenly decided to exercise every day with no reason whatsoever.

“Marinette, why can’t I just dance with you instead of going to ballet?” There they were. Manon’s infamous “puppy eyes.” “I mean, it’s still dancing, right?”

“ _No_ , Manon.” Marinette made it a point to look away. She would not be fooled. “Look, I know you don’t like ballet, but it’s good for you. Ballet can make you strong and balanced.” There was a reason Marinette had stopped ballet, after all. “Besides, it’s good to know how to do all kinds of dances. You never know when you might use what you learned.” Marinette poked Manon’s nose and smiled when the child seemed content with her response.

__________________

“Hey, Nino?”

“Yeah?”

“I could’ve swore I just saw Ladybug.”

Adrien and Nino were in the process of leaving the abandoned studio when a child raced past them quickly followed by a stumbling girl that looked a lot like the expert dancer. It was hard for Adrien to believe that Ladybug would be the off-balanced pink-wearing teenager chasing after a _kid_ of all things.

“No, never mind. I must’ve been seeing things.”

__________________

Marinette was positive that the new guy – the troupe’s name for Adrien the past few days – was staring at her. It took a little more than her usual bravado to conceal the discomfort and continue on with her night.

Meanwhile, Adrien was sure that Ladybug was becoming more and more aware of his existence, or at least acknowledging it. She had already looked at him more than a few times that night, and the dancing hadn’t even started yet.

“Come on, new guy,” Reflekta said, dragging him into the practice room. “Tonight’s your time to shine, and I want to make sure you don’t embarrass yourself.”

Nino had told him that morning to keep cool. He would be dancing in front of everyone tonight and had to make sure they recognized his confidence… and his good looks, of course. He would be cool and collected, mysterious and elite, _dashing_. Everyone would be impressed by him, including Ladybug. Maybe she would even compliment him.

The thought took his breath away, and the time up until his performance was spent in a fantasy.

Finally, the time came.

Marinette and the rest of the members had all returned to the backstage area just as the new guy and Reflekta were making their way from the practice room. “Well, I must say,” Reflekta began, leaning her arm on his shoulder, “he was a lot simpler than Timebreaker.”

“Hey!” Timebreaker laughed, making her way to the front of the group. “Why do you always use _me_ as the example?” Marinette noticed the new guy’s eyes wander to the platter of croissants she had brought for the night.

“Because I’ve known you the longest and you were always the most difficult to choreograph.” Now he looked antsy. She couldn’t help smirking, but before she could offer the food to him, Bubbler ran up to him.

“Yeah!” Bubbler cheered, pumping his fist in the air. “This is it! I’ve finally contributed a soul to the troupe, and now his debut is underway!”

“Bubbler, you’re going to crush him if you keep that up.” Alya was right. Bubbler had been jumping and hanging on his friend so much the poor guy looked a little dizzy.

Pushing Bubbler off of him, the hungry recruit snickered, “Get off.”

“All that’s left now is to dress the part,” Alya mentioned, gesturing to his practice attire.

“And for that,” Princess Fragrance uttered suddenly, “you all need to leave. Remember the tradition. Only-”

“Yeah, yeah,” Timebreaker brushed her off, “only Reflekta and one other can know of the choreography and style.” She crossed her arms and set her face to suspicion. “Just what are you planning to do, huh?”

“You’ll see when he actually performs,” Alya laughed, placing her hand on Timebreaker’s shoulder. “All of you are gonna be _so_ impressed.”

As everyone headed back out into the club, there were so many “good lucks” and “don’t mess ups” that Marinette was interrupted each time she considered telling their performer something herself. So with a sigh, she gave him a thumbs up and joined the others. Her words probably weren’t needed anyway.

It hadn’t been what Adrien wanted. He supposed there was only so much you could ask for, and wanting Ladybug to express luck to him was apparently too much. At least she had noticed him. Honestly, he was just proud that, despite the lack of communication between the other group members and himself, everyone had offered up some sort of “good luck” for his performance. 

Lady Wifi, Reflekta, and Princess Fragrance had remained behind and were chatting to each other softly when he finally turned toward them. “Here you are,” Princess Fragrance chimed, holding out her arms. Sitting there, was folded black fabric, and when he took it from her he smirked, suddenly much happier than his previous thoughts had brought him. _Well_ , he thought, _Ladybug_ must _have had something to do with this._ The thought of Ladybug sitting down with the other members and discussing the matter of his identity in the club sent an extra shot of joy through his chest, perhaps the one he had wanted when he imagined her speaking to him.

“Go change,” Lady Wifi gestured toward the room divider. “If you hurry, maybe you can have a snack before we go.”

He rushed over to the changing place and threw on the new clothes for the sake of the croissants waiting for him.

_____________________

She had completely forgotten to warn the rest of the troupe.

When Chloe waltzed into the club and started making demands, Marinette felt instant dread. Slowly but surely, Chloe pushed aside the other members and made her way to Ladybug’s side. “I take it you knew about this, Ladybug?” Bubbler had popped up beside her as Chloe attempted a selfie with the frowning dancer.

“Stoneheart was supposed to remind me to tell you all,” she groaned, her head in her hand as Chloe continued to speak as if time were running out in the world, ignorant that Marinette had joined a separate conversation.

“Why is she here?” Ever the Bubbler and without a care in the world, he had started to blow bubbles in her face. She swatted them away with a look incredulity.

“Why _else_?” She gestured towards the mat in the center of the room. “I may have told her we had a surprise prepared for her.”

“Ah,” Bubbler sighed, lowering his bubble wand, “so you’re trying to make my friend her new chew toy.”

“I didn’t mean to,” she admitted, shrugging. If only Alya was there to back her up, but no, she was in the back with the new guy. “I had to come up with an excuse for why she hadn’t seen us in the past month.”

“Excuse me.” Bubbler turned at the tap on his shoulder to face Sabrina -- the Invisible One, as they liked to call her based on her ability to vanish in any and every room without notice. “You’re in the way of Chloe’s picture,” she said matter-of-factly. He looked at Chloe pouting beside Marinette and shrugged.

“I suppose they call this karma,” he concluded, giving her a “have fun” before strolling away.

“Honestly, Ladybug,” Chloe whined, “you should really try to _look_ at the camera otherwise I can’t post the picture online.” Hand on hips, the blonde poked Marinette’s shoulder and gestured wildly around the room. “I would’ve thought your ‘best friend’ Lady Wifi would have taught you how to take a _selfie_ of all things.”

As Chloe drabbled on about Ladybug’s lack of photos online and current physical appearance, Marinette strode to her spot by the mat, praying for the performance to start. If there was one thing she could stand about Chloe, it was that she commented _slightly_ less on every. single. thing. while a show was going on.

This wasn’t the normal mat used for performances. It was smaller, more of an actual square than the usual rectangle, and had one side pressed against the wall, where the black stage curtain fell over it ever-so-slightly, hiding the existence of the wall itself.

Tikki must have heard Marinette’s prayer, for the lights began to dim as black lights kicked on overhead. Plagg’s counter offered a little more light than usual – to aid weaker eyes – and glowed a sharp green and white. Then, Alya appeared as the hum of excitement echoed throughout the crowd.

“Hey, everybody!” she called, leaving streaks of purple and white for the audience to follow as she made her way around the glowing mat. A silence erupted in the room so everyone could hear her clearly. “I’d like to introduce our newest member of the troupe!”

Everyone seemed drawn forward, waiting for her to say who it was, waiting for whoever it was to be revealed. Marinette wanted to laugh at her friend’s teasing, and she could see the same look in Bubbler’s face as he came up beside her. “Just say who it is already,” Chloe uttered a bit too loudly. Marinette couldn’t help a roll of her eyes as Alya turned to the statement. Marinette was embarrassed for Chloe’s sake at first but then caught the floating image of a smile in the center of the mat, which only made her hold in a laugh.

Ignoring Chloe’s statement, Alya spun slowly on the mat and bowed. And then, to everyone’s surprise, strut away from them all, vanishing behind the black curtain Marinette had noticed before the lights went out. Murmurs set through the crowd joined by Chloe’s quiet complaining, and Marinette looked to Bubbler for understanding.

He simply smiled at her, another Cheshire Cat grin floating in mid-air.

She would lie to anyone that asked her of it, but she _did_ jump and let out a tiny shriek as music suddenly set all their hearts on a timer with a deep dubstep. Following the very first beat, a figure catapulted onto the mat from the side and started breaking. Even though, they were all at a loss to who it was, the crowd started to cheer. Only when Bubbler started to yell, did she realize this was their recruit dancing, not some random audience member.

His hands and feet were shining a bright green, glowing fantastically in the black light. He wore black sweats and a black hoodie both lined with bright green stripes up and down his legs and arms. To top it off was his hood, drawn up. The stripes had continued up farther than the normal curve of a hood to indicate – ears?

His smile was less haunting than Lady Wifi’s and Bubbler’s to Marinette solely because she could still see his face. Not only were 3 lines were drawn across each of his cheeks in the same fluorescent green, but his hair was so naturally golden that it shone like any other synthetic color.

Marinette was blown away. She hadn’t even _considered_ that he would do so well without someone dancing beside him. That he could do it alone proved to Marinette that she owed him a silent apology for being so distrusting of his skills. She clapped for him and cheered for him as his performance sauntered on. She even gasped with the rest of the crowd as Lady Wifi miraculously reappeared and somersaulted into the dance with him.

Then it struck her. That deep, hollow feeling in her chest that tightened her throat and made her face warm. She was… _jealous_. She was jealous that Lady Wifi was dancing alongside their new member, that they were doing flips alongside each other and duo moves.

That her best friend Alya had gotten to sync with him before she had had the chance.

“Everyone, I give you: Chat Noir!”

His grin shot through Marinette again, sending her mind spinning like she was doing the air flares herself. Before she knew it, the glow-in-the-dark performance was over and the lights were slowly turning on, forcing her to blink and flinch away from the brightness. Then, she could see him clearly, across from her at his place on the mat. Alya was high-fiving him as he absentmindedly scratched at the black paint dripping down his face.

“Yeah!” Bubbler’s spontaneous screaming jolted Marinette from her staring. “Give it up for Chat Noir!” And the crowd sure listened to him. This time when Bubbler jumped on his friend, he wasn’t pushed off. Music began again and all around her, people were swarming around Chat Noir. He and the other members started to casually dance without her. A celebration.

“Chat Noir!” The squeal made Marinette tense instinctually, prepared for what was to come. But it didn’t come. Instead, the Chloe she hadn’t heard throughout the _entire_ performance scurried off into the crowd before them. Suddenly mindful that she had stood next to Chloe this whole time, Marinette followed her to the center of the group of members to find her clung to a frightened Chat Noir’s arm.

“Looks like Antibug has a new claim,” Alya joked, appearing at Marinette’s side.

“Ladybug!” Chloe called. “Ladybug, _look_! It’s him; it’s _Chat Noir_!”

“Wow,” Alya grimaced for Chat Noir’s sake. “Should we tell her that _you_ named him?”

“So she can scream in my ear instead?” Marinette asked sarcastically. “No way. Besides, she looks happy with him.”

“But _he_ doesn’t.” They observed poor, poor Chat Noir being swung back and forth by Chloe while Bubbler chased after them. “Maybe you should step in and save him,” Alya offered.

“And be the victim instead? No thank you.”

Alya was about to comment on Marinette’s tone when Chloe spotted the polka dotted star, released Chat Noir, and tumbled toward her at full speed. “Come on, Ladybug!” the peppy blonde cheered. “Let’s take a picture to remember this moment _forever_!”

Frowning, Marinette turned her head to Alya as Chloe swung her arm over Marinette’s shoulders.

“Just so you know,” Alya crossed her arms and looked pointedly into her friend’s face, “this is called karma.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for reading and thank you to those who commented and kudo-ed me. I really do appreciate it. You keep me writing.
> 
> Until next time (0u0)
> 
> (By the way, the song Blow by Kesha is terribly stuck in my head.)


	7. Cutbacks and Opportunities

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tikki and Plagg talk about financial trouble.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi, everyone! I cannot apologize more for my absence, but I'm back!  
> It's been a while -- too long. I have gone through my first semester of college, and, surprisingly, I wrote this chapter during finals week... somehow.  
> I hope you all enjoy and forgive me...

After being hassled by the crazy blond girl and then watching her cling to Ladybug, Adrien had spent the rest of the night in the best mood he had ever been in. It wasn’t every day he got to smile so much and be surrounded by people that only wanted to have fun like he did.

For years now, Adrien only had Nino to rely on. Adrien’s father, Gabriel Agreste, had never paid much attention to his only child following the absence of Adrien’s mother. The one time Adrien had confronted his father was the last. Never again did he question Gabriel, whether it had to do with the random outings, business calls, or the woman named Natalie. He wouldn’t ask what his father was doing as long as he wasn’t asked the same thing.

Nino had been his savior. After years of homeschooling, Adrien had been lost to the world and how to react in it, but Nino had brought him up like the brother Adrien had never had.

And now Adrien could finally, truly, _participate_ in society.

“My Lady,” he bowed as Ladybug entered the alley. Adrien had insisted to Nino that he alone stay until everything was clean, and when all was done, he realized Ladybug was the only other one still present. Bidding his leave and thanks to Plagg and Tikki, he hurried out into the alley so he could catch Ladybug.

“Don’t call me that.” She emerged into the moonlight where he could see her clearly. They faced each other in this small alley, both in the façade of their troupe personalities, sweat still lingering in their hair, and paint still dripping.

“You came up with my pseudo,” he finally said.

“Yeah,” she sighed, shifting weight between feet. “So?”

“I guess I wanted to say ‘thanks.’”

She actually looked taken aback. “Why? It wasn’t very hard.” They recalled the last time they had been in the alley alone.

_“Chat Noir.”_

At first he thought it was a memory but then detected that it was too clear to be from anything but the present.

“Challenge me.”

“One could’ve heard a pin drop with the silence that trailed Marinette’s sudden statement. _What was she doing?_ She _hated_ challenges, hated the look people gave after being so confident and proud and losing.

Was this because of that absurd feeling she had felt watching her best friend dance with this gold and green _marvel_?

“What’s wrong, My Lady?” he snickered, gaining a rapid bravado. “Don’t want to challenge me yourself?”

“I don’t challenge others; _they_ challenge _me_.”

“Then maybe in the near future, that will change.” One last humorous bow and Chat Noir meandered off into the night just like a true cat.

She could never tell Alya.

_______________

“Successful week, everyone,” Plagg uttered as he dropped into a seat with what seemed to be a glass of milk.

“Yes, successful indeed,” Tikki strolled into the room and stood before all the members of her troupe for their weekly Friday meeting. She gestured to Chat Noir, saying, “Our patrons adore you and admired how many visits we had for your debut.” She switched her gaze to Princess Fragrance. “Your challenges were tough this week, but you held out all the same. We have gained a few more donations thanks to your hard work as well.” Princess Fragrance nodded her head in understanding and smiled cheerfully.

Adrien looked around the room. All of the members, even Stoneheart, were sitting scattered across the backstage area on tables and chairs or on the floor. Each of them looked intently to Tikki as she spoke, like she was a goddess telling them of her worldly plans. He couldn’t help but notice how comfortable Plagg looked sprawled across the vanity behind Tikki. Ladybug was sitting on the table with Lady Wifi and Evillustrator while he and Nino had spread themselves out on the floor with a couple of the others.

“Now for our serious news.” Tikki’s voice had gone a fraction grave, causing Ladybug to sit up a little straighter. “I’m sorry, everyone, but I need you all to agree on two days that we will not open the club.”

“Wait,” Lady Wifi was the first to speak, leaning forward with her hands gesturing around her, “why do we have to close the club?” Some of the members looked up hopefully at Tikki now.

“We can no longer stay open every day of the week.”

“But it’s never caused a problem before,” Timebreaker acknowledged. “Why now?” Standing up and getting defensive, she demanded to know who would cause the change.

“There’s no need to get upset, Timebreaker,” Tikki soothed. She willed the angry teen to sit again. “The other owners have spoken with us of their concern that, despite our generous patrons and donations, we simply don’t have enough money to run the lights and music every night anymore.”

“Then we can start going around the city, spread our name, do anything to get the money,” Timebreaker insisted. “We can do it. It wouldn’t be hard.”

Dark Cupid nodded in agreement, wooping with a fist in the air, “I’ll challenge as many as I need to!”

“It’ll be like the original troupe!” Lady Wifi chanted.

“Unfortunately, you have no choice,” Plagg joined with a careless hand wave. “You either choose the two days now, hope we can save the money, and stay open for a few more years,” he smirked oddly, “ _or_ stay open every night, not impress enough money out of anyone, and close within the next year.” Adrien had to admit: Plagg usually only ever spoke with a sarcastic and humorous tone, but for this one outstanding moment, he struck it into each and every one of them how important it was to strike two days off of their calendars.

“How are we supposed to choose which days not to dance?” Horrificator mumbled. “How do we explain it to everyone that comes to see us?” Adrien thought her voice shook.

“She’s right,” Lady Wifi chimed in. “How do we choose when to deny ourselves and others the time to dance and have fun?”

“We just have to,” Ladybug whispered. They all turned to her. “Otherwise, the club really won’t last much longer.” She wasn’t looking at any of them, just down at her feet dangling over the edge of the table. Adrien felt a pang in his chest at how pitiful she looked, and then how pitiful they _all_ looked. He had _just_ joined this troupe, and now his time was already going to be cut short?

How unfair.

“So what days should we choose?” he asked, his voice resounding around the room as if he were alone. All the eyes turned to him now. Maybe they were surprised he had spoken up.

Timebreaker looked down at her hands with a scrunched up face. Stoneheart and Horrificator seemed to be speaking silently to one another through eye contact. Dark Cupid looked antsy, and Princess Fragrance seemed uncomfortable. It was Gamer who answered first.

“How about Saturday and Sunday?”

“No way,” Lady Wifi immediately backfired. “Those are the best days to be open.”

“Tuesday and Thursday?” Evillustrator prompted. “They are in the middle of the week. Nothing special there.”

“What about Monday?” Timebreaker scowled. “It _is_ the worst day of the week, after all.”

“That sounds good to me.” Adrien was silent as the agreement swept over them until… Ladybug. When Lady Wifi nudged her, she lifted her head and firmly spoke, “No.”

“Why not?” he asked gently, keenly listening with arms folded across his chest. He wanted to hear why Ladybug so firmly believed Monday should not be cut from the calendar.

She looked him in the eye and said, “Maybe Monday is the _best_ day to be open. Think about it!” She spread her arms to indicate the club as a whole. “Monday is the ‘worst day,’ right? Well, doesn’t that just mean that more people will need to let loose that day and have fun. Isn’t that what dancing can be useful for? Forgetting all of our problems and having fun?”

Tikki was smiling when she announced her agreement.

And suddenly, Adrien found himself loving Ladybug even more.

The others quickly followed suit by agreeing and ended up choosing Tuesday and Thursday as the days to cut. As Adrien and Nino walked out into the night air, he expressed his disdain at having his time at the club lowered. All Nino did was pat him on the shoulder and say, “We all feel a bit lost at the thought of it.” He turned to motion to the alley. “This place is our ‘home away from home,’ but I personally would rather have a minimum amount of time away from it than it be destroyed altogether.”

Those may have been the wisest words Nino ever said to Adrien.

_______________

“I hate this.”

Alya gazed up at Marinette from the curb they sat on. “I know this is frustrating,” she nudged, “but we’re all upset about it. There’s nothing we can do but dance to our fullest and hope for the best.”

Marinette held her head in her hands and sighed, “If only there was a fundraiser or event that we could do, but you heard Plagg. We have no choice.”

“That’s not what I heard.” Marinette was never surprised by Alya’s sudden changes in tone. She was an optimistic person, after all. “Sure he said we had no choice, but that was towards the two days, not any of our suggestions,” Alya explained. Marinette’s expression changed as she realized her best friend was right. “I think we could easily pursue the steps of the old troupe and go around the city.”

“We could do it on the two days!” Marinette jumped up. “We could go to the park and-and have challenges and—”

“Hold it, girl.” Alya smirked and joined her friend in standing. “First things first, we have to tell the others.”

_______________

Adrien was lying in bed for quite a while after washing all the paint away, trying to think of an idea to make the troupe happy. He decided to call Nino when he had a lack of _good_ ideas.  
“Dude, you realize we were dancing all night, right?” Nino grumpily answered.

“Look, I know you’re tired, but I want to come up with something to cheer everyone up again. Some idea on how to keep the dancing up or something,” Adrien hastily replied.

“I’m way too tired to do this right now.”

“Please, can you try?”

Nino could practically _hear_ Adrien’s “puppy eyes.” “Fine, fine, um… How about classes like Ladybug?”

“What about them?”

“Well, hold them. Like more classes.”

“No, no, that’s taking something away from her, and I don’t want to do that,” Adrien argued.

“Hey, you asked.”

“What was the old troupe like? Lady Wifi said something about them earlier.”

“Oh, yeah,” Nino yawned. “The old troupe was an actual, you know, _troupe_. They would go around all over the place performing and competing, but that was also when they got paid. We just do it for fun.”

“So why can’t we do that again? I didn’t hear them say we couldn’t.”

“What? Plagg said—” Nino paused. “You’re right. They didn’t say we couldn’t.”

“This is great!”

“Thank for screaming in my ear,” Nino mumbled sarcastically.

“We have to come up with a plan!”

“Don’t you think we should tell the others first?”

“Oh,” Adrien had gotten ahead of himself in his excitement. “You’re right. Well, goodnight, Nino.”

There was sigh from Nino and what sounded like him saying, “Cats,” before he hung up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Was it good?  
> I know it probably wasn't what you wanted after such a long break, but it will pick up again.  
> Remember that comments help.  
> Thank you all.


	8. A Plan

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A plan, snacks, and a schedule...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi, everyone! If you're still with me, thank you very much for being patient. Thank you to all the newer readers as well. And thank you to the comments and kudos I received.  
> I've already started the next chapter so hopefully it will be ready much, much sooner than this one.  
> Also, the next one will have much more than this one does too, so please put up with the length for now.  
> Again, thanks. And now enjoy!

Adrien and Marinette had both run to the club with all the excitement of a basket of puppies rather than cool, popular dancers.

“Bubbler!” Nino turned to see Alya running towards him.

“Oh, hey, Lady Wifi,” he replied.

“Have you seen Ladybug?” she asked.

He nodded and gestured ahead of them. “She ran past me like a maniac.”

The two of them ended up laughing at each of their friends’ ecstatic sprinting with Alya gasping for air, asking, “Why Chat Noir too?”

“He just realized that Plagg never said we couldn’t go around and dance,” he explained, “so he’s going to tell everyone.” Alya looked at him oddly and started to laugh again. “What?”

“That’s exactly what Ladybug is doing!”

And yeah, that’s what those two did. When Marinette arrived at the entrance, Adrien was already there, catching his breath. He had heard her approach and turned to see her. Marinette was embarrassed. She had tried not to pay too much attention to him before, but now it was kind of hard _not_ to. He was gorgeous. She rarely got to see anyone with those dashing looks that he openly flaunted. Though, today, he seemed embarrassed as well.

“Ah, hello,” he uttered awkwardly, “Ladybug.”

“Ch-Chat Noir,” she returned with a subtle nod of her head. “What-What are you doing here? I mean,” she straightened suddenly and looked around, blinking a lot, “what are you d-doing here now? Why are we here? _Here?_ Or maybe living?”

Adrien was dumbfounded by this strange personality of Ladybug’s, but he had to admit it was cute. “Ladybug, listen,” he began, “Plagg never told us we _couldn’t_ do what the old troupe did. Actually, he just ignored us, but we can do it. We just have to talk to the others, and I’m sure they’d be happy to.”

Marinette stared. “That was what I was thinking…”

It was totally acceptable that the two of them remained staring silently at the other for a few moments. By the end, Marinette was giggling shyly and Adrien was rubbing the back of his head nervously.

“I guess there’s no harm in us telling everyone,” he finally said before adding very quietly and questioningly, “together.”

“Yeah, of course.” Adrien found it cute how much Ladybug was blushing and tried no to look at her too much as to resist embarrassing himself by saying something stupid… And she was doing the exact same thing.

________________

“So how will this work?” Reflekta asked, crossing her arms. The entire crew was gathered in the backstage area.

Ladybug and Chat Noir stood there awkardly. “We just do it?” he guessed.

Reflekta shook her head. “If you’re going to propose something, you need a plan.”

“Why not make one now,” Timebreaker suggested. “It includes all of us anyway.”

“We could go out on the weekends before the club opens,” Dark Cupid offered with Gamer nodding his head beside him.

“And a few of us can get together on the weekdays,” Gamer included.

“What about Tuesdays and Thursdays?” Stoneheart asked. “None of us have to be here now. Isn’t that another good time?

“Exactly,” Lady Wifi said. “So we have days where we all join in and we can set up a schedule for the other days after daily activities are done.” She pointed to Evillustrator: “Can you make a sign to carry around with the club name and address on it?” Now she gestured to Princess Fragrance. “Can you prepare street clothes for us to wear?”

“Of course!” Princess Fragrance looked so excited shew as willing to run off and make an outfit for everyone that night.

“Reflekta, maybe you can help us learn more moves and get better at what we already know?” Ladybug asked. “I’d also like to talk to you about an idea I have.”

With a nod from everyone, the plans were set.

“This is happening!” Lady Wifi exclaimed, jumping up and down. “This is going to be great!”

“I didn’t realize Chat Noir had the same idea as me,” Ladybug told her. “I feel so embarrassed.”

“Yeah, Bubbler told me so after you ran off without me.”

“Oh, sorry about that.”

Everyone was so excited that the night went amazingly well. The crew had so much fun that by the time the club closed, they were all completely willing to sleep there, but Tikki quickly reminded everyone that their parents would be concerned. With that, everyone set off grumpily. 

Marinette and Alya were helping each other off the floor when Plagg came up to them. “You certainly listened very well,” he commented. “No, I didn’t say you couldn’t continue the old traditions, but how do you think this will raise profits?”

“We’re getting the club back out there,” Chat Noir said, coming up behind Marinette. “It’s a way to spread the name, and if we can get in some competitions, there will be prize money we can earn.”

“If you think it’ll work, fine. I don’t care.” Plagg started walking away. “I’m only the bartender.”

“I think it’s a good idea,” Tikki said stopping Plagg. “You can definitely do it.” She nodded to Marinette.

“Yeah, yeah, you’re always the optimistic one.” Plagg through his arms up and continued leaving. “ _Someone_ has to think on the negative side.”

________________

“So we’re actually doing this.”

Everyone had come early the next day to finalize everything. Ladybug and Lady Wifi had posted a chart for the week to come where whoever could dance on the weekdays would sign up. They would meet at a certain time and place in the afternoon and start dancing.

Evillustrator was set up on the floor with a small poster mounted on a stick. It was covered in bright spray paint and popping words. Princess Fragrance was in her clothing corner designing all her outfits. A few of them were already in the works.

Adrien walked in and picked up a croissant. “This is so cool.”

“Yeah, I was gonna sign up in a sec. You too?” Nino asked looking a little too impatient.

“I was going to wait actually –”

“Well then I’ll go do it now.” Nino laughed a little before walking off quickly. Adrien nearly choked on his snack when he was interrupted and had to stop himself from choking again because of the laughter that threatened to come out. Lady Wifi was signing up.

“Hey, wait for me!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I will be back soon, I promise! I've also started to write a rather angst-ridden piece, and I'm not sure whether or not to release it yet. Let me know and thank you for reading!


	9. A Bad Idea?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A prodigy tries things out,  
> The invincible becomes tired,  
> A trip to the Eiffel Tower...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I said I would be back soon. Thanks for waiting, everyone, whether patiently or impatiently ;)  
> I hope you enjoy the chapter!

“Where are they?”

Alya and Marinette were waiting impatiently against the gate of the park. Well, _Alya_ was waiting impatiently; Marinette was simply trying to control Manon.

“Manon, can’t you listen to me just for today?” she pleaded with the child. Manon turned to her, pouting, and stomped her foot down.

“My name is Puppeteer!”

“Yes, yes, I know.” Marinette held onto the squirming girl as she turned back to Alya. “How late are they?”

Alya checked her phone and replied sternly, “2 minutes.” Marinette sighed and looked around the park, hoping to spot them, and sure enough she did. Coming from the opposite side of the park were Chat Noir and Bubbler all dressed up as she and Alya were with the paint already on their faces.

“Ladies,” Bubbler greeted.

“You’re late.”

“Barely,” Marinette added.

“So, uh, who’s this?” Chat Noir asked her, pointing down to the whining child trying to push herself away from Marinette’s grip.

“Oh, this is M— Puppeteer.” Manon stopped fighting at the sound of her name.

“I’m her prodigy,” she proudly proclaimed.

“Woah, I didn’t know you had one of those, Ladybug,” Bubbler sounded excited. “You two should be the first ones to dance.”

“Hmm,” Alya considered. “I guess we could do our routine afterwards.” Marinette looked at her friend and felt only slightly betrayed. She looked to Manon as the child made her puppy eyes.

“Fine, fine,” she agreed. “Let’s go.” Rather than holding back Manon as she had been, she let Manon drag her to the space they would be dancing. Over by the fountain was the perfect space for them to dance. Since the park paths were concrete, they could really dance anywhere, but using the fountain’s wide ledge as a place for the standing members and the sign, which had been taken from yesterday’s crew, was perfect.

Adrien set the sign up against the side of the fountain and stood by Nino as he placed a CD in the stereo he’d brought. Ladybug looked brilliant today. They were all in loose clothing that looked casual but was actually perfect for dancing on the concrete. Ladybug was dressed in a black tank top with her name on it and red jeans with a polka-dotted jacket. Her black baseball cap was in her hands as she looked nervously between Lady Wifi and Puppeteer.

The small girl claimed to being Ladybug’s prodigy was wearing what looked like a one-piece bathing suit with black sweatpants. Her hair was in pigtails like Ladybug’s and her colors the precise negative tone to Ladybug’s as well. The child’s bathing suit was designed with ridged black and bright blue lines with a matching mask of a similar blue outlining the black that covered her face.

Ladybug, Lady Wifi, Nino, and Adrien all matched with similar outfits designs; the only thing separating them were their personal color combinations and symbols. Though it was a relatively cool day, Adrien could feel his black jacket and pants soaking up the sun and making him feel all to warm. When he removed his hat to let his head breathe, he caught sight of Ladybug looking at him.

Marinette was turning to talk to Bubbler when she saw the flash of gold that was Chat Noir’s hair blowing in the subtle breeze. Since she only ever saw him in the colored lights of the club or dark of night, the gold struck her harshly, and she had to pull her thoughts back to Bubbler before she could stare to long. Inwardly embarrassed, she asked Bubbler if they were ready to go.

Adrien stared at Ladybug as Nino replied that everything was set up, and the music began.

There weren’t many people in the park at that time, but the schools had just let out for the day, and people were on their way home, meaning that there would be a lot of passerby and kids coming to play before going home. They would have enough audience. The crew from the day before had been quite successful in drawing a crowd, so they expected the same outcome.

Ladybug started to dance while they all watched. Someone on the crosswalk spotted them and made his way over. Slowly and slowly, more people joined, and it had only been a couple minutes. When the crowd had formed the circle around her, Ladybug stood off to the side and bowed to Puppeteer. The child jumped into the circle with a flip and started to perfectly imitate the moves that Ladybug had just done.

Adrien stared, incredulous, at Puppeteer and may have been a little jealous of her skill level. “Dude, isn’t she amazing?” Nino asked him as the crowd cheered. Adrien only nodded. The two boys couldn’t take their eyes off the dance as Ladybug hopped back in.

The girls danced in perfect sync. They matched their moves and rhythms so well that it really just looked like a negative-colored shrunken mirror-image of Ladybug, and it confused Adrien’s eyes. He wanted to watch Ladybug, but Puppeteer was truly awesome. Despite her age and growth, she was able to use her own versions of moves to make every possibility available to her.

As the music started to come to an end, Puppeteer backed off and clapped Ladybug into the center of the circle where she then used her mastered airflares to bring herself up into a freeze on the last beat of the song. Everyone cheered for her, including the boys, of course. Ladybug gestured towards Puppeteer and allowed the clapping to be transferred to her prodigy. The small girl bowed and jumped up and down in excitement.

“Here.” Marinette looked up from her seat against the fountain and saw Chat Noir trying to hand her a bottle of water. She accepted it with a “thanks” and down half of it. “That was awesome, by the way,” he continued, sitting next to her. “You sure taught Puppeteer well.”

“Ah, thanks,” she said awkwardly. She had never really thought about how others would see Manon, but now it was impossible to avoid. She supposed that despite her thinking that she may have been a terrible teacher, she was actually pretty good at it. “It’s not easy teaching her.”

“How so?” He put his own water bottle on the ground beside him, unopened, and looked at her.

“Well, she _is_ just a little kid, and her mom doesn’t really know what I teach her.” Chat Noir laughed at her and she turned to him with an irritated look. “And what’s so funny?”

“Not much,” he replied with a big smile across his face. “It’s just kind of funny that her mom doesn’t know how great a dancer her kid is.”

“Well,” Marinette paused and tried to come up with an answer. When she couldn’t come up with one, she only shrugged and turned back to Alya’s performance.

“Hey, Chat Noir!” Bubbler called from the front of the fountain. “Come on!”

“I guess it’s my turn.” He got up and bowed to her playfully. “Enjoy the view, My Lady.” He hopped over to the circle and the music started. Alya blocked her view as she came to sit by her.

“This is so fun!” she gasped, downing her own water. “I can’t wait for tomorrow when we’re with everyone for the first time.” She sat down in front of Marinette. “You okay, girl?”

Marinette focused on her friend’s face. “Yeah, I’m fine. I just had an idea.” She gazed at Chat Noir. He tripped out of a move and almost catapulted into a woman. He tipped his hat at her before spinning away and continuing as if he hadn’t messed up at all.

“Do tell.”  
_________  
“Thank you, everyone!” Bubbler waved at the audience. “Come by every day and see us and other members of the club, and don’t forget to check out the club at night!”

“You can come and challenge us as well as learn how to breakdance for yourself!” Alya added.

“See you all later!” Chat Noir ended with a wink at the woman he’d almost hit earlier.

Marinette stood next to them all with a small smile on her face and her hands behind her back. Manon was beside her, as happy as Marinette had ever seen her.

“Alright, time to go home,” she told the child once their audience had dispersed.

“No!” Manon stomped her foot and pouted. “I want to stay with you!”

“I’m sorry, but I have to take you home to your mom. You can come again another time, I promise.” When that didn’t work, Marinette looked to Alya for help. Soon Marinette was walking Manon home with a wave to the others that she would meet them at the club.

“Chat Noir?”

Adrien hadn’t noticed he’d been staring after Ladybug. “Oh, ignore him,” Nino laughed. “He only likes Ladybug.”

Before he could protest, Lady Wifi started to laugh too, “No way!”

“H-Hey! I don’t!” Adrien blushed. He hadn’t meant to be so obvious.

“I can’t wait to see how _this_ turns out,” she continued. “Chat Noir, you’re so cute, liking Ladybug and all. I’m sure she’ll come around eventually too.”

“Wait. Really?” He tried not to seem too hopeful.

She laughed even more boisterously than before, “Of course! She’s not immune to crushes; I should know.”

Adrien didn’t hear anything else Lady Wifi and Nino said until they reached the club. Ladybug could grow to like him back?

A smirk grew on his face.

_________

“Welcome, everyone!” Nino shouted. “Who’s ready to have some fun?” The crowd cheered as he began the music.

All around people were chattering about how they had seen the crew in the park and were excited to see them in their own setting. There was no lack of happiness in the club that night.

“So tired,” Marinette whined, dropping her head onto the counter of the bar.

“Me too, me too,” Alya assured her. “Maybe these park things weren’t such a great idea.”

“At least not like this. We probably should space them out so we have a rest before club time.”

“Maybe we could do them just on Tuesdays and Thursdays?”

“But everyone seemed so excited to do it all the time.”

“Well,” Alya sat up groggily and grabbed a chocolate from her stash behind the counter, “just wait till everyone is tired from the park and still has to come here. Only seven of us really feel the hurt between yesterday’s crew and us today.”

“Give me one,” Marinette mumbled into the table, holding out her hand without looking up. Alya placed a bar of her chocolate in her palm and watched her friend sit up painfully. “Maybe there’s a different way to get the club out there.”

“I mean, there’s your idea from earlier, but there’s no way we can get into that. There’s nothing like that in the city.”

“Maybe we can sponsor one.”

“And spend money the club doesn’t have? No way, girl.”

They munched on another piece of chocolate, thinking.

“Look, let’s just get through tonight and check out the circumstances for tomorrow’s outing. K?”

Marinette nodded and groaned as she got up from her seat. Adrien watched her from the other side of the room. “Wonder what they’re talking about,” he muttered to himself.

“Well, it’s probably _not_ about you,” Nino slouched on him. “They look about as dead as I feel.” When Adrien didn’t answer Nino looked up at him. “Dude, aren’t you tired?”

“Huh?” he asked without looking away.

“Dude, you’re gonna drive me insane with this crush on Ladybug.”

“Chat Noir.” They both looked up to see Tikki walking toward them. Her face was stern but worried. “I need you two to be careful on your outing tomorrow. Watch after the others.”

“What’s going on?” Adrien asked her. She only shook her head, saying something about having a bad feeling. They could only agree and watch as she left.

Nino screwed up his face. “Well that was random.”

_________

“Ladies.” Marinette and Alya looked up to see Plagg in front of them. He was nibbling on a sample from his own stash of cheese.

“What’s up, Plagg?” Alya asked him.

“You’re all going out tomorrow, aren’t you?” He shoved the whole block of cheese in his mouth.

“Yeah,” Marinette answered. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing… yet. Just be careful.” He grabbed for another piece of cheese and grimaced when he came up with Alya’s chocolate instead, throwing it at her and searching for his cheese again before walking away.

Alya shrugged and split the chocolate in half with her teeth. “Well that was weird.”

_________

“Anyone else completely exhausted?” Bubbler complained.

“Do you even need to ask?” Alya sassed.

It was Tuesday morning and the troupe was headed to the Eiffel Tower for their performance. Marinette, Alya, Bubbler, and Chat Noir were hanging behind the rest of the group during the walk from the club only a block over. “Well, Ladybug is usually invincible, so I might as well,” Bubbler replied.

“I’m not invincible,” Marinette mumbled.

“Girl, I have to go with him on this one,” Alya said. “You can usually get through some incredible workouts and never feel worn out afterwards.”

“Things change.”

“Hey guys! Almost there!” Dark Cupid shouted from the front of the group.

“This is going to be so fun,” Chat Noir said with practical hearts in his eyes.

“Woah… I guess we know who really _is_ invincible.”

Marinette looked towards Chat Noir and tried not to seem too annoyed. Everyone had always called her an amazing and enthralling dancer that had the energy of star. She may not have believed it, but she didn’t want anyone stealing the description from her anyway.

“And we’re here!” The troupe walked up to the square where the Eiffel Tower stood in its magnificence. “We’ll be over there,” Reflekta announced, pointing to a clear area off to the side of the excitement of the busy tourist spot. “We got permission to dance as long as we stay out of the tours’ ways.”

Marinette looked up and smiled. She wasn’t a stranger to visiting the Eiffel Tower, but it was always really cool to see. She always felt so tiny whenever she stood directly under it. This gigantic structure was one her many pride and joys of living in Paris.

“Ahh look what we have here.” The voice directed the troupe’s attention to a similarly dressed group, and at the front was someone Marinette recognized immediately. “Look at you all. Ready to dance for some tourists?”

It was Stormy Weather.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Things are about to kick off woohoooo! All aboard the train to dance battles!
> 
> See y'all again soon!
> 
> <3


	10. Better Than Papillon

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Some new players join the game,  
> Uncertainty sets in,  
> Certainty arises.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here we go! *takes off in a rocketship*

Stormy Weather stood with her hands on her hips and a devious smile across her face. Behind her stood a similar amount of people as the troupe, all dressed looking ready for a battle.

“What do you want, ‘Stormy Weather?’” Lady Wifi spat, walking to the front of the group. Adrien, Nino, and Ladybug followed her.

“Why don’t you wipe away that malice, Lady Wifi?” the reject giggled. She leaned on her parasol. “We challenge you.”

“’We’?” Ladybug asked.

“Why, yes,” Stormy Weather continued giggling. The sound of it made Adrien feel sick. “ _We_ are the Akumas.”

“Akumas?” he heard Ladybug murmur. Apparently Stormy Weather heard as well, for she immediately looked toward the dancer and sneered.

“Like the name?”

“Stormy Weather,” a voice suddenly called from behind her. She quickly turned and stepped back with her eyes to the side.

“What do you want?” Timebreaker called to the new player.

The new girl smiled. Marinette analyzed her with piercing eyes. _What was going on?_ This girl did everything with attitude and suave, acting as if she was the most fabulous person there. “We want to dance, of course.”

Marinette crossed her arms. “Dance?”

“Yes, bug-eyes, _dance_.”  
Alya scoffed behind her, and Marinette could tell she was holding herself back when she said, “And just who are _you_?”

“The name’s Volpina,” the girl snickered. She flipped her golden brown hair and placed her hands on her orange clad hips. “It’s been said I’m a marvelous dancer, far better than Papillon to be exact. It’s thanks to my parents. For years they trained me to become the best dancer the world had to offer. With all their wealth, they bought me the best instructors and even Papillon himself.”

Adrien watched Ladybug scrunch up her face and looked towards “Volpina.” Feeling the need to back her up, he said, “That sounds a bit extensive.”

“Well, it’s true. You’ll just have to see for yourself when I win over the crowd.” Volpina sure had everything planned, and Marinette was suspicious. No way was this girl telling the truth.

“’Win’?” she asked. “’Win’ what? We aren’t here for a competition.” Marinette could feel the rest of her troupe watching her. What would she do? What was going to happen? Who were these “Akumas?”

Volpina only laughed, and the rest of her troupe joined in. “What’s the matter? Don’t think you can take us?”

The members of Miraculous Beat and the Akumas were staring each other down, prepared for whatever Ladybug and Volpina would say. But Adrien refused to let Ladybug do it all by herself. “Of course we can!” He stepped up beside Ladybug, ignoring the twisting anxiety that was telling him to shut up. “Surely you’ve heard of us: the Miraculous.” He put his hands behind his head and shifted his weight to one side to seem as cool as possible.

“Hmm,” Volpina narrowed her orange and black painted eyes. “You think you’re all that. Hmph! We’ll just have to see.” She turned and started walking through her crowd of Akumas; they parted to let her through and glared at Ladybug and Chat Noir as the two stood their ground.

Once the entirety of the opposing crew had left, the troupe crowded around the brave pair. Through all the questions and uncertainties, Lady Wifi only said…

“The most we can say right now, guys, is that we’ll probably see them again. _Soon_.”

___________________

Despite the chaos that was the first meeting between the Miraculous and the Akumas, the dancing went well. _Extremely_ well.

“Everyone, I’m proud to say that we have new donators,” Tikki announced before the night began. “And more and more people are starting to notice you.”

“Great,” Plagg remarked, eyes rolling.

Tikki eyed him but continued, “It _is_ great.” She faced Marinette, who was still feeling nervous from the encounter earlier. “It’s show time, everyone. We have more fans, for sure. But that also means we’ll have more enemies, like these ‘Akumas’ you spoke of.” Marinette couldn’t tell if she was the only one feeling uneasy. “Stoneheart, make sure you don’t let anyone you saw earlier today into the club, and if you see them, don’t let them intimidate you. Call for Plagg if you need help.”

While Plagg grunted, Stoneheart nodded.

Thankfully, there was no need for that conversation. No Akuma appeared.

However, Marinette and Adrien were each feeling incredibly uncertain. Marinette wasn’t sure she could handle what seemed to be happening and definitely wasn’t sure the others should be looking to her as a leader. Alya had even told her that’s what they considered her. How could she let them down like this? She wasn’t good enough for this…

As for Adrien, he believed he could handle anything as long as he could stand next to Ladybug. It’s not that he didn’t want to be able to handle things by himself, but a matter of how he _couldn‘t_. He hadn’t been around as long as Ladybug. He couldn’t just _make_ decisions for everyone like she could… but he really didn’t want to leave her fighting on her own. He wanted to be there for her and the others as long as he possibly could.

Not to mention, he didn’t believe in his ability to do it on _his_ own either.

They would have to work together. No matter how much more important Ladybug was compared to him, the lowly black cat.

___________________

“So, you gonna mention your idea to Tikki and Plagg, or what?” Alya mentioned on the walk home.

“I don’t know anymore,” Marinette said. She scratched at her paint. “There doesn’t seem any time for an inner-member competition.”

“What are you talking about?” Alya stopped her and made her look at her. “Girl, this is your time! _Our_ time! The club can do anything right now; we are _that_ determined.”

“I don’t think I should make decisions.”

“I think you should.”

“Why?”

“Because you are the top gun in this club. No one can compete against you, even _me_. If there’s anyone else that should offer up ideas and speak for us all, it’s you.”

___________________

“What do you think’s gonna happen?” Nino asked on the walk home. “About the Akumas, that is.”

“I’m not sure,” Adrien answered, staring up as they walked. Even though the city lights blocked out a lot of the stars, he still enjoyed seeing what he could. “But we’ll be okay.”

“You think so? We’ve never really competed with others before.”

“I do. I may be new here, but I really think the troupe will be fine.” He looked the opposite way, where he could just barely see that Ladybug and Lady Wifi had stopped to chat in the distance. “We have Ladybug, after all. She’s strong, Nino. No Akuma could ever beat the great and mighty Ladybug. In my opinion, I think the rumors are right: not even Papillon could take her down.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I truly am sorry for my absence. Thank you for those that wrote me about it. You helped me get back into this. I hadn't even realized how long it had been.  
> I still want to finish this before season 2 comes out in September/October.  
> I guess we'll see how that goes ;)
> 
> Hope you enjoyed the read!


	11. The First Time I Saw You

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Some trust,  
> kwami loss,  
> and “Miraculous Teams”?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As stated in my profile, I will now try to update this story every Wednesday. I really hope I can do it, and I'm going to try my best!  
> Hope you like this chapter.

“Ladybug, I need to speak with you.”

Tikki pulled Marinette aside during the next night of dance with a grim look on her face. “We weren’t sure we wanted to tell everyone because it doesn’t affect us too much, but you should at least know since they seem to have accepted you as the leader.” Marinette listened carefully. She hadn’t been feeling well since the appearance of their rival team, the Akumas. Whether it be from the encounter itself and nerves of it all, or the thought that she may let her entire team down, she wasn’t sure, but it had been flooding her mind ever since.

“I’m not sure I should _be_ ‘leader,’ Tikki,” she admitted before the owner could tell her the problem. “I can’t _win_ against another team; I can’t lead them there. I failed just trying to get _into_ this troupe.”

They were standing in her practice room, where she trained people, and the music from outside was pounding in her head. “Marinette,” Tikki said kindly, placing her hands on her dancer’s shoulders. Marinette was surprised. It was weird to hear her name in this setting. “You are a splendid dancer and a wonderful _person_. Your teammates trust you to not only dance the way you need to, but _act_ that way as well. They know you and every kindness about you.”

“But I don’t know if I can keep being Ladybug for them.” Marinette paced nervously. “I don’t know if I can keep being the confident person they know.”

“I believe you can. I bet Alya does too.” She looked to Tikki.

“What if I fail?”

“You won’t.” The owner stepped over to her and pierced her with her gaze. “You are Marinette, and you are Ladybug. You can _do_ this.”

 

Adrien had seen Ladybug walk away with Tikki and wanted to follow. However, it was his turn in the final dance of the night, and until someone else jumped onto the white mat, he couldn’t leave. He was worried about Ladybug. She wasn’t her usual self, and it was weird. He had asked Nino what was wrong, but he had only said that Lady Wifi wouldn’t tell him.

Finally, Gamer jumped in, twirling on his elbows and somehow magically keeping his glasses from flying away. Adrien snuck around the crowd and stood outside the partially open door to Ladybug’s practice room. The music was nearly too loud for him to hear what she and Tikki were talking about it, but he thought he could make it out.

“So what’s the matter?” he heard Ladybug ask.

“One of the owners has left us,” Tikki replied. He glanced at the drawn portraits of the owners above the bar. Which one? “Nooroo… We don’t really know why he left, but we assume he was threatened somehow. We just don’t want to believe it.” He tried to peek into the room but could only see the ladies’ reflections in the mirror. “Either way, he is now an aid to the one behind the Akumas.”

Marinette was shocked. Nooroo – she had only seen him once, when she came too early and saw him in the backstage office. He was pale with papery skin, so much so that you would believe you could see his veins perfectly mapped, giving him a bluish-purplish hue. His head was shaven on either side to give him a mohawk of sorts that flopped to the side in one giant, purple curl.

Despite his hair, which would give one the idea that he was intimidating, he had been nicely dressed and kind as hell. He had smiled at Marinette with the brightest aura she believed possible. How could _he_ have left them to support their rival?

“We’re going to bring him back,” Tikki continued solemnly, “but to do that,” she paused, looking up at Marinette with a darkness in her eyes, “we need you to beat the Akumas into the ground.”

\---------------------------

Adrien told Nino to go ahead, and with the exhaustion Nino was feeling, he didn’t question it. He was pretending to clean something over again when he saw Ladybug sit at the bar.

“Let’s go,” Lady Wifi pestered as she walked up to her friend.

“I wanna stay just a little longer.”

“Suit yourself, but don’t stay too late. Otherwise my parents won’t let you in.”

With a nod from Ladybug, Lady Wifi took off, waving at Adrien as she went. Finally! he was alone with Ladybug.

At the weekly meeting, Tikki and Plagg hadn’t mentioned anything about the owner Nooroo. All that was said was that Evillustrator and Horrificator needed to work on new signs that said the club was closed on Tuesdays and Thursdays, as well as tell that Nino needed to stop telling people they were open those days. Other than that, a few people asked Princess Fragrance if she could fix a part of their costumes for them, asked Reflekta if she could help them with a duet show, and asked Ladybug what they were going to do about the Akumas. She hadn’t replied to them, though. Only shrugged and walked away.

“My lady,” he bowed. She side-glanced at him and then continued looking forward.

“What do you want, Chat Noir?” She sounded tired, so he didn’t understand why she didn’t just leave with Lady Wifi.

“If everything alright?” He sat down on the stool beside her. She banged her head against the counter a couple times before stopping and shaking her head. “What is it?”

“Everyone’s expecting me to lead them and make all these decisions, but I don’t know if I can live up to the expectation they have for me,” she burst. “I’m only one person. How can I make _everyone_ happy? And how can I keep the club safe from the Akumas?”

Adrien was shocked that she had answered him at all, let alone what was actually wrong. So his reply may have been a bit slow, but he tried his best: “Well, you’re amazing as you are, so just being yourself would make everyone happy. We all trust you.”

“You only just joined.”

“I’ve been here a few weeks now. I love this place, and I love knowing everyone.” He turned and put his elbows on the counter, leaning back so he could look out at the floor. “I knew you were an incredible person the first time I saw you.”

“Dance.” She turned to him. “The first time you saw me _dance_.”

Thinking for a moment, then shaking his head, he said, “No. Though that may have been the first time I ever saw you, your dancing wasn’t what made me think that.” Now she was paying attention, sitting upright and staring. “I got to meet you, dance with you and the others. I came to trust you as the others did, by learning who you are. You’re an awesome person, and you can surely lead everyone.”

“You really think so?”

“Yeah. Alright?”

“Alright.”

 

The night air was cool on their still sweaty skin. “Chat Noir?” she mumbled. He turned to her. They were in the same alley where she had named him. “Thank you. You’re a good team member.” He took it and ran.

Raising an eyebrow and smiling at her, he leaned in and immediately got shoved away. “And don’t call me that.” She started to walk away.

“Wait.” She did. “I think you should know, I heard you and Tikki earlier, so I know about Nooroo.” Her surprise made him feel guilty for eavesdropping. Lifting his hands up, he defended, “I won’t tell anyone!” To _his_ surprise, she laughed.

“Silly cat.” She pat him on the head playfully. “I believe you.”

“I did have another question, by the way.” Her grin remained as she asked what it was, and he wasn’t sure he wanted that smile to disappear. “Can I help?”

\---------------------------

“So what took you so long?” Alya asked when Marinette was washed up and tucked into her makeshift bed on Alya’s floor. “There’s no way you were just sitting there the whole time.” Concerned, she stopped and looked to her friend from her phone. “Right?”

“No, I ended up talking to Chat Noir.”

“What? Really? What about?”

Marinette shifted onto her elbow and watched Alya’s inquisitive face. “He asked if I was okay. I _am_ , but it was nice to talk to someone that doesn’t know everything about me, like you, and doesn’t expect me to have all the answers, like everyone else.

“Hmm… he’s still new, so he can’t really say anything yet, can he?”

“He can. He’s still a member of the troupe.”

After a moment of silence, Alya asked, “So about your idea from the other day, I really think we should do it. More and more now, actually. After all, if we’re going to be going against the Akumas at any moment, it would be nice to know where we each stand in the club, since most of us have been learning new stuff.”

“You really think so?”

“Yeah.” Alya slid down from her bed to the floor and pulled out a notebook. “Yours truly has been thinking about it a lot.” She opened to a page covered in different colored sharpies. “Counting Reflekta, we have twelve members in our troupe, but since she doesn’t dance anymore, we technically have eleven. Princess Fragrance and Reflekta are a team; they only ever work together when it comes to picking partners.”

“Just like _we’re_ always partners,” Marinette added. She leaned over to get a better look at the page.

“Umm, yeah. Of course!” Alya shifted nervously. “Anyway, it would be hard to have enough battles between the ten participating members, so I thought we could have _team_ battles. It would give us the information we need on where we stand in the club skill wise _and_ be fun to crush each other recreationally.”

“Not to mention, it could help us prepare for the structure of battles because I doubt the Akumas will dance with us one-on-one.”

“Exactly!”

Marinette took the notebook. On it was the title “Team Battle Sign-Up!” with a numbered list going to five. “We still have to get Tikki and Plagg’s approval, but they should say yes.”

“Actually,” Alya looked to the side with a smirk, “I already asked.” Marinette looked betrayed. “Don’t give me that face! I told them it was your idea and explained _everything_. Tikki even said it could help us raise money for any battles the Akumas want to have.”

“So… this is going to happen.”

“Yes!” Alya put her arm around her friend and half-hugged her. “I can’t wait to see the look on your face when I crush you.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (So I'm just writing as I go... I'm sorry if I disappoint you.)


	12. Who Will Rule?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Promises,  
> Rivalry,  
> And a bracket to be drawn.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Almost missed putting this one up. My bad.  
> I had some trouble with the formatting on this one. The "automatic we'll-fix-your-mistakes" thing on the writing page didn't like me very much.  
> I hope you'll still like it.
> 
> Enjoy!

“What do you mean you aren’t going to be my partner?”

Marinette stood with Alya by the table backstage. The loose leaf sheet of paper from Alya’s notebook was up on the wall, and the ten members that would participate in the competition were chatting to create their teams. One team, however, had already signed up.

### Miraculous Teams!

### A Competition Between Friends! Let’s Find Out Who Will Rule Over All!

##### 1\. Lady Wifi/Bubbler 2\. 3\. 4\. 5\. 

“I’m sorry, girl, but I couldn’t refuse him,” Alya tried explaining. Marinette made a face of betrayal. “I think I like it better this way. Wait till you see how much better I’ve gotten since we trained together.”

“I see you dance every day,” Marinette defended. “I know exactly how great you are.”

“Ah, but don’t you think a competition would be fun? After all, one of us would get bragging rights for the rest of our lives.”

Marinette considered it. Alya was her best friend, and they never _didn’t_ team up. It would be weird teaming with someone that wasn’t her best friend. Though, she could definitely see the bright side to it. Why not do it? It could be fun crushing her best friend…

“Fine,” she caved in. “But you have to buy me ice cream to make up for this treachery.” The girls made the promise as well as an extra one saying that the winner would receive whatever meal they wanted cooked by the loser.

Meanwhile, across the area, Adrien and Nino were arguing over the same circumstance. “You won’t be my partner?” Adrien almost cried too loudly.

“Look, dude, I’m sorry, but Lady Wifi made me an offer I couldn’t refuse.” Nino was nervously scratching his head and looking behind him at the female dancer.

“I wonder what exactly that ‘offer’ entailed.” Adrien crossed his arms and rolled his eyes. “Nino, what am I supposed to do? I don’t know anyone else here well enough to team up with them.”

“Well, why don’t you team up with Ladybug?”

Adrien considered it; then shook his head. “That’s up to her.”

“I don’t know what to tell you then, but hey, let’s make a bet out of this and have some fun!” He stuck out a fist and promised, “The loser has to do whatever the winner wants for a day.” No way was Adrien going to say “no,” even if he was lost at what to do.

By the time the club opened, everyone was signed up:

##### 1\. Lady Wifi/Bubbler 2\. Gamer/Dark Cupid 3\. Horrificator/Stoneheart 4\. Evillustrator/Timebreaker 5\. 

At least, _almost_ everyone was.

Everyone else had gone to dance with the Saturday night crowd, leaving Ladybug and Chat Noir alone backstage, staring at the paper on the wall.

“I guess we don’t have a choice, Ladybug?” Chat Noir teased with his hands behind his head. Ladybug stood beside him without moving. “If you don’t want to dance with me, then I’m sure we can convince someone to move around—”

“Chat Noir.” Her voice had surprised him since he wasn’t expecting her to talk to him given the not-entirely-happy circumstances.

Turning to her, he asked, “M’lady?”

Then she turned to him as well… with a fire in her eyes. “Let’s win.”

##### 5\. ~~Chat Noir~~ Ladybug/Chat Noir

\---------------------------

“Tikki.” The owner spun to face the bar. Plagg was giving her a weird stare. “What are we going to do about Nooroo?”

“Well,” she leaned on the bar and watched her dancers, “we’re going to beat the Akumas.”

“If Nooroo is helping them, though, they may know everything about our dancers. How are we supposed to beat a troupe that knows a lot about us and we know nothing of them?”

“We just will.”

“That’s not very reassuring.” He popped a triangle of cheese into his mouth. Tikki held out her hand, and he looked at it for a second before realizing what she wanted. As he placed one of Ladybug’s cookies into her hand, she told him, “I believe in them. Don’t you?”

“That’s not what I meant--”

“But it is.” She stared at him until he sighed and gave in.

His arms raised in defeat, he admitted, “No, I do believe in their chances, especially since Ladybug and Chat Noir will be teaming up in this little competition they came up with. I’m just concerned… Who is the _true_ leader of the Akumas?”

Tikki gazed up at their fairy portraits above the bar. “I’m sure we’ll find out eventually.”

\---------------------------

“So, we’ll have all of next week to train with our partner,” Alya announced to everyone once the cleaning was done. “Reflekta will be meeting with me and Bubbler on Monday, Gamer and Dark Cupid on Tuesday, and so forth down the list.”

“It’d be best if you have an idea of what you want to do by the time I work with you,” Reflekta added shyly. It was nice to see her active in the daily activities of the club again. She had been so separated since the accident… but seeing her actively participate in the last few weeks was so reminiscent.

“We’ll start the competition on the next Monday.” Tikki turned to Evillustrator and Bubbler. “I know you may already be working on fixing signs for the club, but would you consider advertising this?”

“Not a problem!” Bubbler burst excitedly, saluting the owner. Evillustrator only nodded.

“Then Plagg and I will draw up the contest bracket. Good luck, everyone, and we’ll see you tomorrow night.”

As everyone was leaving, Adrien watched Ladybug and Lady Wifi stare each other down with grins smeared across their faces. He and Nino walked up to them, laughing. “Save the fight for the mat, ladies,” they joked. Adrien was actually rather happy with the friendships he seemed to have made, and as they all walked out together, he and Ladybug agreed to meet at the park to discuss their routine.

“I can’t wait to see the look on your face when Lady Wifi and I take you down,” Nino boasted.

“We’ll see who’s laughing in the end.” He pounced ahead of his friend, seeing Ladybug and Lady Wifi walking in the distance yet again, “It’ll be me and Ladybug, though, and I can honestly say that I’ve never been more confident.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading another chapter!  
> Have a nice day!


	13. Hop To It

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> the flirty ones,  
> shy ones,  
> and selfies

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have a happy surprise at the end...

“What is this place?”

Marinette stood outside of what looked like an abandoned building on the edge of the city. She and Chat Noir had met in the park only half an hour ago before making their way to this place – “the perfect practice spot,” as he called it.

“Like I said, it’s for practice.” He looked at the broken door so proudly. “After you, M’lady.”

She glared at him, saying, “Don’t call me that,” as she stepped forward. The inside looked like a dirtier version of her practice room at the club. It was dusty and had dirt stuck in the cracks on the floor, but it had obviously been fixed up by Chat Noir, who was straightening a fallen chair and placing the stereo he’d brought on it. The entire room had a yellowish glow, probably helped by the giant cracks in the ceiling and walls that let in the sunlight.

“This is where I’ve been training.” She couldn’t deny how proud Chat Noir looked of his little den. She almost wanted to smile and express her admiration for how he found his very own studio to work in…

Instead, she asked, “Why here?” He turned around and stared at her.

“What do you mean?”

“Why practice here?” She wandered over to the mirror and placed her hand on it. It looked like it had been cleaned recently, but that didn’t hide the many places where it was broken or completely missing. “Why stay in an abandoned studio when there are tons of other places you could go?”

He looked to the side. “My father doesn’t approve. It took a lot of convincing just for me to go to public school. And don’t even get me started on being friends with N-- Bubbler.” He gestured to the room. “This is far enough away from him where he can’t see me, so I can do whatever I want.”

Marinette understood. She had never told her parents about her dancing adventures; though she was sure they wouldn’t _entirely_ disapprove, they certainly wouldn’t want her to be employed at a nightclub of all places. Her parents were wonderful, though. She had considered telling them many times and always talked herself out of it. Chat Noir, however, had a different story. It seemed like his father only wanted to control him, never to let him do something a teenager should… have fun!

“Sorry I asked,” she replied sincerely after a silence. “No one should be denied fun and freedom.”

He simply shrugged. “This is my life, but I love dancing. And I love the club! Who cares about my father – let’s dance!”

After a smile and a nod, Marinette made her way to the chair and sat on the floor in front of it. Chat Noir followed. They sat facing each other, making Marinette panic. This was the first time they had seen each other without their paint on, and she felt oddly naked without that mask. Not to mention, whoever this guy was… he was absolutely gorgeous. She had noticed it when they met up at the park – how different he seemed to look with just the small amount of missing black. His hair always shone bright in the sun as if it was made of the golden rays themselves. The green of his eyes always popped more against the black paint surrounding them, but without the darkness, they somehow glowed even more. Also, he looked like a nerd. And Marinette just _loved_ nerds.

Meanwhile, Adrien was intrigued by the face beneath Ladybug’s paint. He was positive now more than ever that it _was_ her that day when she was chasing that kid (who _must_ have been Puppeteer).

She was cute and seemed shyer than normal. He had to admit that it felt weird seeing her without the paint on. It was weird even seeing Nino during the day now that he had seen a whole other side to him. Ladybug, though… well, something was off, but Adrien liked her anyway.

“So how should we start this?” he asked. Jumping out of her thoughts, Marinette stumbled for an answer.

“Um, we-we should s-st-start by music picking – picking music, I mean, and th-then coordinate learning – Ah! I mean learning to coordinate… with each other, that is.” Marinette wanted to run, especially when Chat Noir smiled. She started to get up, but he placed his hand on her shoulder, freezing her.

“Alright, I brought some of Bubbler’s music we can start with.”

\---------------------------

Nino leaned against the wall, wiping at the back of his neck with a towel. Alya looked up at him while sipping at her water bottle and laughed, “What? Tired already?”

“What?” he playfully scoffed. “Of course not! You?”

She pretended to be offended, “How dare you, sir! I have more energy than all my siblings combined!”

“Yeah? I doubt that.”

She stood up and stood in front of him, practically trapping him against the wall. “Wanna go?”

Nino grinned and gestured toward the open floor, “Bring it.”

Someone cleared their throat, and the two of them quickly looked to the entryway on their left. Reflekta stood there with her arms crossed. “I have an idea.”

\---------------------------

“Wrong order?”

Marinette was curled up facing the corner of the room, holding her head. “I think…”

“What do you mean, though?” Adrien asked.

“I think I did this in the wrong order,” she mumbled. “Lady Wifi and I have always just chosen music and immediately jumped into dancing, but when I joined, Reflekta had me dance for her before focusing on a song and drawing out her choreography.” Adrien was still sitting in front of the chair. “Rather than picking a song first, we should be learning how the other dances.”

“But we know how we dance.” As soon as he said it, he didn’t like how it sounded. What if she didn’t pay as much attention to his dancing as he did to hers? Before he could try to correct the statement, however, Marinette grumbled, “I know, I know, but that’s not what I mean.”

He suddenly felt better about himself knowing she had watched him.

“We don’t know how we dance with _each other_. Coordination is key.” She had turned around and had a finger in the air. “The most I can say is that we need to learn how we can share the dancefloor.”

“Then let’s hop to it.”

Of course she agreed that they needed to get immediately to it. Sure, she had learned choreography in less than a week before, but

1\. Not without Reflekta

2\. Not with a partner

and

3\. Not with someone she barely knew

It was all very concerning to her, but she stood by while he turned on some music. The beat started to pulse through her as usual, but she couldn’t bring herself to move a muscle once he stood next to her. He looked comfortable enough, but little did she know that he was also shy about dancing by her.

This wasn’t going to be as easy as they thought.

\---------------------------

Marinette wasn’t sure how long it had been but the broken clock on the wall claimed it had been a little less than an hour. Of course, she had noticed when she was on her phone earlier that the clock ran very slowly. And because she knew that fact, she was becoming more and more uncomfortable standing beside Adrien as the music continued.

They had both tried to dance, but they couldn’t seem to make it work. It seemed like even the sun was embarrassed by the overall awkward atmosphere dripping from every wall because the room was becoming slowly more orange and dim-lit.

“I think I’m going to take a break,” Marinette burst oddly. She stepped over to her bag and pulled out a little box. Without realizing Adrien had followed her and was looking over her shoulder, she opened the box to reveal a few cookies and two croissants. Adrien’s excited gasp scared her and caused her to turn so quickly that one of the croissants flew out of the box and landed on the ground beside her. She watched as the cat’s excitement melted into despair as he stared at the fallen pastry.

Without saying a word, she picked up the second croissant from the box and offered it to him. He looked back forth from her to the baked good. “I can have it?” he asked quietly. _Like a little kid_ , she thought with a smile.

“Sure, I’d rather the cookies anyway.”

They sat beside each other on the dusty ground as they ate, a napkin hiding the corpse of the fallen croissant.

“This is amazing!” he cheered with a full mouth. He’d eaten half the croissant in a single bite.

Marinette almost laughed. She could practically see the stars and hearts floating around his head. When he finished his snack, she was still working on her first cookie. He sadly looked to her. Not about to speak with her mouth full of cookie, she just looked from the box to the croissant corpse and shrugged.

She nearly spit out her cookie when she saw how seriously he was considering eating it.

When he finally stopped staring at it and gave up, she laughed and promised him she would bring more before the club opened.

“How long till the club opens?” he asked her when they were all done snacking. She looked to her phone.

“About three hours.” They looked to the open floor.

“We should probably try again.” She made a sound of agreement but bit her lip in anxiety. She was seriously doubting that they would get anything done at all. Just then, though, a message popped up on her phone, distracting her. Adrien saw her phone light up too and leaned forward to try and see what it was.

When Marinette made a face, he only laughed. On the screen was a blown up picture of Alya and Nino. Their smiling, smug faces took up most of the picture, but in the background, they could see Reflekta with her arms crossed and her face mid-sigh. Adrien and Marinette shared a look. They instantly understood what had to be done.

\---------------------------

Alya was laughing with Nino over what they thought their friends’ reaction would be to their picture when the reply came through.

Only half of Adrien and Marinette’s heads were in the picture. Marinette was wearing a questioning look and looking up at Adrien while he was grinning wildly into the camera. They were each sideways and had pushed the tops of their heads together.

War between friends… how incredibly fun.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> SOooooooo I got a friend to do some art for me! I felt this truly needed a visual.
> 
> Go check out my friend on devianart for the two selfies: http://circlesr4squares.deviantart.com/  
> She's awesome!
> 
> Hope you enjoyed!


	14. Together

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A broom,  
> Orchestra,  
> And black walls...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, hello.  
> Did anyone look at the art that was done? My friend and I are still proud of the two pictures.
> 
> I hope you all enjoy this chapter.
> 
> NOTE: In the chapter I have brackets to express when I played a certain song while typing.  
> SONG #1: Tchaikovsky - Swan Lake  
> SONG #2: Sleeping At Last - Heart  
> (Song #2 just kind of happened. It was on a playlist and just happened to be perfectly timed with when I was writing.)

Adrien and Marinette had spent practically the whole club night watching each other, trying to coordinate. By the end of the night, they felt they each understood completely how the other thought while they were moving, but when they tried dancing together they still couldn’t _move_ together. They’d talked a little and ended up exchanging numbers with the agreement to meet at his studio around 11am before walking their separate ways.

Alya wouldn’t stop talking as she and Marinette walked home, and when she had asked her what was wrong, Marinette could only say that she was glad Alya had a good day. Hiding her disappointment in herself was hard, especially from Alya. They were best friends, but this was something Marinette could not bring herself to confide in her for. She needed to solve this on her own.

On the other side of the city, Adrien was thinking the same thing. He didn’t want to tell Nino about the lack of dancing he and Ladybug had done together. So he simply agreed with everything he said and listened to him banter about his time with Lady Wifi, listening closely to see if he could catch any hints at what their dance would be like.

Before falling asleep, Marinette decided that she would leave a couple hours before the meeting time with Chat Noir so she could clear her head and get some warm-ups in. Sadly, she was never really good at waking up on time and instead found her mom waking her up because her alarm had gone off three times already.

After apologizing and quickly eating breakfast, she headed out, finding her way to the studio. When she got there, the door was already open. Worried that Chat Noir may have wanted to come early as well, she poked her head in and was as quiet as she could be.

But no one was there.

Though, it looked like _someone_ had.

There were beer cans and bottles as well as cigarette butts scattered _everywhere_. The chair had been moved to the center of the room and was knocked over. Terrified, she hid in the entryway and waited…

Not a sound. So she was safe.

Right?

Finally, she decided to move into the room. She looked around for something to clean with and saw a boarded off opening on the far side of the room. The board on the bottom had fallen off at some point, so she crawled under the others and found herself in a hall. There were two other studios connected to the hall and a door at the end.

As she made her way through the gloom, she peaked into the other studios. In one, the mirrors had been completely shattered. Their glass lay all over the floor. In the other one, the roof had almost completely caved in and there was the strong stench of sitting water as well as mold. It hadn’t been protected from rain like the other two studios. The door at the end of the hall opened up into a closet. That’s where Marinette found a broom and dustpan as well as a box of unopened plastic gloves. Probably for whoever used to clean this place. To the right of the closet was another door, and when she opened it, she recognized it as an office. The desk had been broken down the middle and the cabinets were missing, but the purpose of the room was obvious. Marinette closed the door silently, in respect to the atmosphere that once made up this place.

**[Cue Song #1]**

With the broom in hand, Marinette selected an old playlist on her phone and set it to max volume. She swept all the trash into a corner and quickly found herself remembering something she performed around the time she joined the club. She stared into the wall, and, at a hitting point in the music, the studio darkened… and became a stage.

The walls were black; the lights were on her; the crowd was there, but she couldn’t see them. The music was echoing in her head and resonating familiarly in her body. It became louder, like it had during that time.

Suddenly she wasn’t in her tennis shoes anymore, but in her ballet slippers. Her clothes transformed into a pleated dress with a flash of the spotlight. The music settled and she let the memory of her muscles take over. It was all so familiar, so wonderful. Why had she ever quit?

Other dancers gathered around her on the stage and they danced together. The woodwinds were tickling the notes. Then the cymbals clashed and sent the dancers soaring to the sides in formation; then the music piloted them back to center stage.

She started to spin, feeling the music as if it had hands on her waist, guiding her, keeping her balance for her. She danced to the side, watching her fellow dancers, yet ignoring them. She completed a pirouette and ended with her feet in fifth position. The spotlight never moved from her. She gazed up to it as if it was an old friend and bowed to it, lifting one leg behind her, and then spun away—

And hit the wall.

She cried out when she collided mid-spin with the left wall and immediately went to hold the side of her head. She was starting to thank Mother Nature that no one was there to see her embarrassment when her music suddenly stopped.

She quickly turned and nearly jumped out of her skin when she saw Chat Noir standing on the other side of the room with her phone in her hand.

Adrien had planned to come early as well. He wanted to make sure that if the gang had visited in the night, the studio was clean to use. But when he got there, the sound of ballet’s greatest composers met him. When he walked in (as quietly as he could, that is), he saw Ladybug, dressed for their hopeful breakdancing, gliding across the room with her eyes closed. There was a smile on her face. Not wanting to disturb her, he stood near her phone and watched in envy. It had been too long since he had been in ballet, but she looked as if she had never left.

Then she hit her head against the wall… and he rushed to pause the music on her phone. He had meant to rush over to make sure she was okay, but when she saw him and got spooked, he lost his words.

Marinette wanted to run. So she did. Before Adrien could say anything, she crawled back under the boards and into the hall, sitting against the wall. She was only just small enough to fit in the space between the lowest board and floor, so there was no way Adrien could follow her.

Thankfully, he didn’t try to. She listened to him walk closer and stop, moving to sit against the wall as well. After a while, he finally said something; though, Marinette barely heard him through the pounding embarrassment in her ears. “Sometimes I miss ballet.”

She wasn’t sure she heard right… “You-You were in b-b-ballet?”

“Yeah, but I think it’s been longer for me than for you.” She waited for him to say more, unable to get anything out herself. “My father wanted me to be a dancer. He met my mother through a performance. So I was in classes from the start. I started to hate it, though.”

“Why?” Marinette asked.

“When my mother… left, he started to force it on me more and more. I didn’t have any room to breathe. So I stopped going. His assistant would drop me off and watch me go in, but I would leave once she was out of sight. That’s when I started to meet up with N-- Bubbler.”

“Did your father ever find out?”

“Yeah… I never thought I could talk back to him, but I did. And he said I didn’t have to go to the classes anymore.” She heard him sigh and finally released herself from her ball of embarrassment. “I guess after doing it for so long, it’s hard for me to let it go.”

“It _is_ hard,” she mumbled, smiling sadly. “When I was little, I told my mom I wanted to learn ballet. She and Dad came to every recital, every year. When we became friends, Al-- Lady Wifi started to join them. One night, though, we discovered breakdancing and were enthralled. We started to learn from videos online, and, slowly, more and more, I found myself wanting to break during ballet class.

“The last performance I had was only a month before I joined the troupe. I wasn’t the lead, but I had my own solo anyway.” She paused, breathing in deeply as she recalled the images again. “The stage, the lights, the breathing of the audience… I thought I was done with ballet, but sometimes I find myself doing the warm ups. I always catch myself, but still...”

When she stopped, Adrien didn’t think she’d finish her statement, so he opened his mouth to say it. She, however, said it too.

“It’s like losing a piece of yourself.”

They both took a moment to process what the other had said and then started to laugh. Once they calmed, Adrien asked, “What’s on that side anyway?”

“Oh just some dust, mold, broken glass. Nothing big.”

“Well, come back over here.”

So she did. When she saw his face, she felt suddenly calm. She thought she’d start shaking and the embarrassment would swarm her again, but all she felt was a grin.

**[Cue Song #2]**

He was putting a CD into the stereo and turned to see her standing up from her crawl into the room. He crossed the room to her and bowed playfully, putting his hand out for her to take. By the time CD had finally been read and accepted by the ancient technology, she had taken his hand.

And they danced to the orchestras they had both heard a thousand times. He supported her as she spun and drifted towards her when she trotted away. She pointed her toes and allowed him to keep her balance for her. They were happy and at peace in the spotlight they both knew, surrounded by a crowd they couldn’t see and a stage of black.

They ended facing each other and the sunlit walls faded back into existence. Their breathing was heavy and their muscles ached, excited to be moving a specific way again. He quickly switched the CD to one of Bubbler’s, and for the first time, they moved together.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed and will stick around for another chapter next week!  
> :)


	15. I Know Him

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There's dancing,  
> obsession,  
> and anxiety, two of which they can't solve.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry I didn't update last week! I was running around everywhere as my sister prepared to move out of the house we share.
> 
> I hope you enjoy this chapter. I literally just wrote it, so I'm sorry if it's disappointing, but hey! Things are gonna happen NEXT CHAPTER!

“You two are incredible.”

Adrien and Marinette were taking a break when he looked up from his croissant to see Reflekta joining them. It was finally their day to meet with the choreographer, and she had seemed tired from the very start. The moment they started dancing, though, she perked up and watched them with wide eyes.

“Like, you don’t even need me,” she told them. The two dancers were sitting on the table with full mouths. They looked at each other awkwardly and hurried to chew the rest of their food so they could answer.

“But we need you to help us,” Adrien stated, confused.

“With what, exactly?” Reflekta had seen every team at this point and was confident that the Ladybug--Chat Noir team was as compatible as Lady Wifi and Bubbler. Though these two didn’t seem nearly as romantic, their coordination and quick-thinking easily made them a wonderful pairing. “Look, you have it down. No matter what songs play, you’ll rule.”

Marinette and Adrien were still unsure, but they didn’t have a choice but to accept what their friend said. So while Reflekta watched, they spent the rest of their time trying out new moves together and seeing how far they could test their coordination.

The two had been so caught up that they didn’t realize how late it was until someone knocked on the door of the practice room. Marinette tripped out of a move as Adrien broke off to silence the music. Alya poked her head through the crack of the door and immediately laughed at her best friend lying on the ground. Marinette pouted and quickly stood, crossing her arms.

“What’re you doing here?” she asked, avoiding looking at Alya and Adrien as her cheeks turned even redder than they were while dancing.

“Um…” Alya gestured outside with a weird look on her face, “It’s club time.”

Adrien looked down to the phone in his hand and saw the time in the top corner. “Oh,” he and Marinette mumbled in unison.

“You didn’t notice?” Alya laughed more. “You guys must seriously be having some trouble dancing if you’ve been at it this long.” As she walked away, leaving the door ajar, Marinette met eyes with Adrien and grinned. Little did Alya know that it was the exact opposite: they matched each other perfectly, reading the other’s movements and thoughts without even realizing what they were doing until the move was placed.

“I guess we should get as much rest as we can before the club opens,” Adrien offered, still smiling. He handed Marinette her phone, as it was hers that was playing the music, and unlocked his own. His smile vanished.

“What is it?” Marinette asked worryingly. Adrien shook his head and pocketed his phone immediately.

“Nothing important.” Marinette could tell his new smile was fake but didn’t want to dig into his business. So they walked out in silence, changed, and stretched, preparing for their Friday night crowd.

“Hey, Gamer, it’s your turn tonight, right?” Timebreaker asked.

“That is correct.” Gamer didn’t often get nervous because he knew that he had the skills to beat anyone that dared to face him. Something about today made him extremely uncomfortable, however.

“He’s gonna rule! No one will ever beat _this guy\_!” Dark Cupid wrapped his arm around Gamer’s neck and proudly boasted.

“Even if someone managed to do very well against him,” Reflekta began quietly, hiding in her corner of Ladybug’s practice room, “no one will be joining.”

Adrien looked to her and was about to ask why when the others unanimously agreed. So he decided to keep quiet. He instead peeked over to Ladybug and couldn’t help from grinning. The red and black dressed dancer was everything he thought she would be -- amazing and capable of anything. He wanted to dance beside her forever. That is, until she saw him looking at her and he turned away wishing he could bury himself alive from embarrassment.

Marinette wasn’t sure why Chat Noir was looking at her with that shit-eating grin on his face, but she _was_ sure that he was taking a liking to her. She couldn’t lie: she found him attractive. Though, it wasn’t when he was being a silly cat but more when he was the cute, funny, sensitive, and caring _person_. But as much as she liked his non-Chat Noir personality, she didn’t think he should like her in any way. Even if he had showed interest in her from the very beginning, he didn’t know her well enough to have such an attraction. She wasn’t what she seemed…

She shook her head, sending the thoughts away, and laughed with the others, even though she didn’t know what it was at.

They all finished stretching and laid out the white mat for Gamer’s duels later on. Their audience started to file in and dance alongside the troupe. After stealing a square of Alya’s chocolate stash, Marinette made her way through the crowd to find a good place to dance. Before she found it, though, a boy grabbed her arm and turned her towards him. “Ladybug!” he called excitedly. “You _have_ to dance with me!” She didn’t know him, but she didn’t mind doing it either. So she nodded and stayed beside him, busting out her favorite moves that didn’t involve kicking anyone in the face.

“You’re incredible, Ladybug!” The boy was too close to her for comfort, and she kept backing up only to find him coming closer to her again.

“I need some water,” she hollered and rushed for the bar. Plagg was getting some sodas for a few teenagers when she got there. Without either saying anything, he placed a glass of water in front of her as she took a seat.

“Watch out,” he mumbled, biting down on his cheese block.

“Hey, Ladybug!” She turned to see that the guy had followed her. “Why’d you run away?”

“I-I was thirsty,” she tried to hide her anxiety over his presence.

“Well, hurry up! I wanna see some of those one-handed air flares!”

“I don’t want to hit anyone.”

“Aw, come on; everyone will move for you.”

“I just want to rest for a little bit.” This guy sure was persistent, she realized. Was there _any_ way to get him to leave her alone?

“My name’s Theo, by the way. I absolutely love watching you at work. You’re amazing! I tried drawing you the other day, but I didn’t get to finish it to show it to you. Maybe we can meet up sometime so I can show it to you.”

“Umm--”

“Oh wow! I-am-TIRED!” Alya grunted, collapsing onto the stool beside Marinette. “Ladybug, come with me to the back so I can get a snack.”

“Sure!” Marinette mentally praised Alya for coming to her rescue and bounced off her stool.

“Wait, Ladybug, I wanted to talk to you more,” the guy, Theo, whined.

“Sorry, Theo,” she waved to him. “Maybe later.”

Alya snickered when they got backstage as Marinette just shook her head and groaned. “He likes you!”

“A lot of people might ‘like’ me, but that doesn’t mean they have to be so _close_ ,” Marinette crossed her arms and eyed her backpack. There was still one cookie left from her practice with Chat Noir. She hadn’t been able to get food for everyone today since she ran out of time.

“He seems like a nice guy,” Alya touched her chin and thought hard, “Looks familiar, though…”

\---------------------------

“You good?” Nino asked. Adrien stood on the edge of the crowd, glaring at the guy talking to Ladybug at the bar. He had seen him grab her arm and dance with her, but now he wasn’t leaving her alone.

He was about to go up to the stranger when he saw Lady Wifi jump in first. Only after the two girls left and the guy watched them go did Adrien recognize him. “That guy was bothering Ladybug,” he explained.

Nino squinted at the guy, still at the bar and facing the direction the girls had gone in, and made a humming sound. “I think I know him... I don’t where from, though.”

“He was another contestant the night I joined.” Finally, Theo turned away from the backstage entrance, and Nino and Adrien spotted Alya peeking out. She and Ladybug hurried out and hid in the crowd, making their way to the complete opposite side of the room from Theo. Nino nudged Adrien and motioned for them to go over there.

“What’s with the stealth, Lady Wifi?” Bubbler asked. Marinette was still trying to see Theo -- to make sure he didn’t see them. When she made no progress, she looked to Bubbler and Chat Noir. The latter of who was looking over the crowd on his tip-toes like she had been. He set himself down and shook his head at her. She smiled at him as Alya explained the encounter with Theo.

“That’s creepy,” Bubbler admitted. “Like, dude, give the bug some space.”

“Exactly,” Marinette uttered, her hands on her hips. She was so glad she had the friends she did.

“Chat Noir over here tells me he knows him.”

“I didn’t say that!” the cat quickly countered. “I said I _recognized_ him.”

“Same thing.” Bubbler waved his hand as if to send the statement away; Alya giggled.

“So who is he?” Marinette asked. She didn’t remember seeing him anywhere before.

“He was there the night I joined the troupe,” Chat Noir began. “I didn’t actually see him dance against you, Lady Wifi, but I saw him afterwards.”

“Oh! _That_ guy!” the three exclaimed together.

“He was copying you!” Bubbler accused.

Alya sighed and leaned on one leg. “I had no idea what to even do about him, so I really just pulled the same moves I had against Chat Noir. It didn’t really matter, though, since he couldn’t match the music.”

“I remember.” Marinette had shared a look with Bubbler then. Both knew he wouldn’t succeed at the time, but it was weird seeing him here again. Was he going to try and dance against Gamer, or even challenge Alya?

“Good thing you put him down, eh, Ladybug?” Alya half-hugged Marinette and the two of them laughed. Bubbler and Chat Noir kept watch on Theo while the four of them had fun the rest of the time. Then, Bubbler waved to them and headed up to the stage where Timebreaker was playing DJ. She stepped back when he touched her shoulder. Dark Cupid joined him behind the DJ stand.

“Hey, everybody!” Bubbler turned the music down as Dark Cupid made the announcement. “It’s time to see if anyone can defeat the great Gamer on the mat!” Everyone was guided off the mat, and the troupe took their places on the edges to keep anyone from stepping into the battle.

There were seven people willing to step up, and, though Marinette could see that Gamer was more nervous than usual, not one was able to beat him. While she was watching the last person, she saw Chat Noir, who was across from her, glaring at someone just a little off to the side of her. She wanted to turn and see what was going on but also didn’t want to know. 

Finally, the competition ended and the spotlight shone only on Gamer in the center of the mat. Rather than breaking, he went with his signature style of dance: robot. How he could control the start and stop of every body part like that Marinette would never understand, but she loved to watch it. When he was done, they all cheered and jumped into the center, dancing freestyle until Stoneheart ushered the crowd out.

\---------------------------

Their weekly meeting only concerned the advertising of the “Miraculous Teams! Club Battle.” Alya and Evillustrator were on the case. Everyone was still a little anxious about the Akumas, but there was nothing to be done at the moment… So everyone went home.

Marinette rolled onto her stomach on Alya’s floor and sighed. “I hope that Theo guy doesn’t take my ditching him too badly.”

“Oh please,” Alya walked into the room, drying her hair from her shower. “He has to get over it. You don’t have the time to spend with _every single person_ that is overly fascinated with you.” She plopped down onto her bed. “He’ll be just fine.”

“Mmm… I hope you’re right.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Remember to check out my friend on deviantart if you didn't last chapter!  
> http://circlesr4squares.deviantart.com/  
> I still love the two pictures they drew for this!
> 
> See you next week (hopefully)!
> 
> Thanks for reading!
> 
> (P.S. I'm obsessed with Voltron: LD right now. It was uber hard to focus on this chapter because of that quiznaking show!)


	16. Hiatus Notice

Hi, anyone who reads this...

So I'm currently sick and haven't gotten much sleep, making it hard to focus on anything for too long. Because of that, I could not get this next chapter to you.

Also, this weekend starts band camp for me and, after the week of that, school as well.  
So I don't know when I can get the next chapter out. It's partially written, but again, I cannot finish it.

I hope you stick with me until I can update, and I'm sorry if you were following this fic closely.

(Once I have time to finish the chapter, I will be replacing this notice with it, so keep an eye out :) )


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